I'm Tired

I just read an article in the Star Tribune that was called “Happy Valley man tackles masked robbery suspect in bank parking lot” this article was about a civilian who lives in Happy Valley that chased down a masked robber through a parking lot then tackled the robber thus subduing his until the police came. The man who tackled the robber was a 50 year old named William Roger Onstott. The woman that was robbed was taken to the hospital and treated for minor injuries to her nose, hand, and chest. But what I think really happened is that when the armed robber was running away he was taken out by Chuck Norris. This has not been proven but I’m pretty sure I could have all my bro’s back me on this one, The robber probably wasn’t tackled. But laid out with a roundhouse kick right in the face. Yeah Chuck Norris.

Stock Markets Rising and Falling

Today I read an article in the Star Tribune about the current standing of some of stocks in America. This article was called, “Investor unease sends stocks down”. We all know that America is going through some rough times with the economy right now and this week didn’t show much more change. Just this week The Dow Jones industrials companies stock fell 2.72 percent. They blame these changes from people who are scared to invest their money or are simply trying to sell the shares while there still worth anything. With the economic downfall there are positives. This week crude oil fell $1.64 to end with a cost of $42.07 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. When Marian Kessler was being interviewed on his current economic views he stated that. “The markets are just expressing a tremendous amount of ambivalence about the future”. He closed the interview with the answer that so many Americans are dreading saying, “The market is grappling with what is certainly going to be a fairly deep recession in 2009."

Stupid

Today I read a very stupid article that was too good to pass up that is called, “Florida man faces charge after allegedly assaulting girlfriend with cheeseburger in dispute”. This is located in the Star Tribune. A man from Florida was just let out of jail after his dispute with his girlfriend that led him to get charged with assault. What happened was a couple got in a verbal fight in there car outside of there home. When the man wouldn’t let the girl out of the car she threw his drink out. After she did this the man shoved a McDonald’s cheeseburger in her face. Twice. About an hour later the man is in the slammer. He was released from jail on his 1,000 bond. For hitting a girl with a burger. Twice. That’s like 1000 double cheeseburgers. Bummer. Don’t hit girls with burgers.

To Much Technology?

I just read an article called “So, what does your teenager's brain on Google look like?” This article was in the Star Tribune. Is America on the World Wide Web to much? Gary Small, a psychiatrist at UCLA argues so. He and many other scientists have been researching how the brain is reacting to all the exposure to the web that Americans are getting. He clams that too much exposure can lead to a lack in social skills. With the lack of face to face conversations that people are having the mind starts to drift away from social interaction. An example he gave of this happening was reading peoples facial expressions in a simple conversation. In the domino effect of things it has been proven that the depression rate in young adults is skyrocketing because of the lack in social skills. Is this an unfixable problem? That question has yet to have been answered though many parents are looking harder for it every year.

Craigslist Babysitter Problems Hit Again

An article that I just read was in the Star Tribune. It was called, “Man answers Craigslist baby-sitter ad, uses child for porn video”. This article was about how a man up in Little Canada who on Wednesday in court admitted that when he responded to a call for a babysitting job that he applied for on Craigslist he used the child to produce a pornographic video. He now faces up to 30 in prison. Just last year there was another incident with a 19 year old named Michael John Anderson who also responded to a babysitting call from Craigslist. When Katherine Olson arrived to meet Michael he shot her in the back killing her. Because of all of these cases that continue to appear on Craigslist it is starting to make people question whether jobs should still be offered on the web.

Laser Pointers at the Airport

Today I read an article in the Star Tribune called, “Charge those who point lasers at planes, pilots say”. If the title of the article isn’t self explanatory it was about many cases of people shooting laser pointers at commercial and private airliners. This has been a problem that has not been addressed or taken seriously until now. Shooting the laser directly in your eye can impair your vision for a couple of minutes, this is called flash blindness. In 2005safety chairman Terry McVenes took the stand testifying "there have been hundreds of these kinds of events over the past several years." He also testified about a man from New Jersey who shoot the pilots with the laser pointer on there approach to Teterboro Airport. Why is this happening? Bob Hesselbein stated “The people who do this are doing it out of curiosity, never being aware of the problems they are causing for pilots flying the airplane." Because of the fact that there is no way to completely protect the cockpit the airport is upping the consequences and keeping a closer watch around the landing and take off zones.

Mailman not bringing the mail

Today I read an article in the Star Tribune called, “A mailman who didn’t deliver”. This article was about a mailman named Steven Padgett who was not delivering the junk mail he was given to peoples houses. Why? Because he felt overwhelmed by the torrents of direct advertisement mail. Supposedly Mailman Steve had not delivered seven years worth of mail, he kept the mail that he didn’t deliver in his garage of sometimes even burry it in his yard. He was caught when a random person saw the bin in his garage and called the police . Mailman Steve was given a 3,000 dollar fine, three years on probation, and 500 hours community service. On the flipside of the story there was never one complaint for the undelivered mail and some people like Kenna Reinhardt responded to the charges saying "Mr. Padgett did not mean harm to any person, rather he overcompensated by doing his job better than anyone". Yet 1/3 of the mail companies income comes from the junk mail sent out.

Obama and his Technology

This week I read a interesting article in the Star Tribune called Mr. President! You must get off the Blackberry! This article was about how Barack Obama wants to add his own touch of technology to the white house, with everything from keeping his Blackberry to putting a laptop on the Oval Office desk. If Barack pulls through on his plan for the laptop he will be the first American president to ever do so. Having the laptop he is also trying to keep his e-mail. Someone who did not like the idea of keeping connected to cyberspace while in presidency was president Bush saying, "Since I do not want my private conversations looked at by those out to embarrass, the only course of action is not to correspond in cyberspace,". This brings up a valid point for Obama because trying to keep hackers out is virtually impossible to do. Even with that Obama posted the weekly democratic radio address on Saturday that for the first time will be posted on YouTube.

Forecloser

This week I read an article in the Star Tribune called, Nation's foreclosure rate in October increases 25 percent year-over-year, with Nevada on top. This articles name is pretty self explanatory about the fore closer rate in America still rising by the month. More then 279,500 homes in America received a notice on their door for a forecloser warning this year, and more then 84,000 thousand homes were repossessed. The three highest for closer states in the united states are Nevada, Florida, and Arizona. Because of this growing economic problem the government was forced to pass a $700 billion dollar rescue package to buy bad package assets from banks but some still are very sceptical about this plan like the Secretary of Treasury Henry Paulson, saying that they probably wont be used to buy such troubled assets. Though there doesn't seem to be a clear solution to this economic crises many people are hoping it will work itself out over time.

A True Hero

I stumbled across an article when I was researching the Heroes assignment worksheet. This article was called Life saver: Hero Alan Beavan. I found this article on Myhero.com and it was about the life of Alan Beavan. Alan lived a life helping others, his career was to represent many cases of clean water acts but what he really wanted to do was be a volunteer environmental lawyer in India. Right before Alan and his family could live out his dream he has one more clean water case to finish in California so on September 11th, 2001. Alan Beavan boarded a flight when it was hijacked and redirected towards the Pentagon. Alan and a couple other brave men and women fought to gain control of the plain, though they didn’t safely land the plane they directed it away from the pentagon saving many more lives. In my opinion Alan is the perfect representation of what a hero truly is.

Last Words

Today I read an article in the Stat Tribune called Presidential race: Closing arguments. Tonight was one of the last nights for the presidential candidates Barack Obama and John McCain to make their last statements of why they should be president. Barack Obama spent 4 million dollars to put up his 30 minute long infomercial, his infomercial included his rally with former president Bill Clinton and he discussed the everyday problems of the average American like, health care, retirement funds, and the loss of jobs. Obama’s infomercial was intended to hit and win over the swing state of Florida. In response to Barack Obama’s infomercial McCain said to a Riviera Beach audience "When you're watching this gauzy, feel-good commercial, just remember that it was paid for with broken promises." Also McCain appeared tonight on “Larry King Live” making comments like “Senator Obama hasn't told the American people the truth.” But even with John McCain’s counter arguments Barrack pulled ahead in the polls for Florida.

Ethanol, Good or bad?

An article I read today was in the Star Tribune named “Small town making big noise about proposed ethanol plant.“ Now a-days all were trying to do is keep the environment clean while maintaining a healthy economy by producing cleaner “green” products like ethanol fuel. But when the small town of Eyota heard about their town getting a ethanol plant built right to the west of the city their was an instant backlash. One person who doesn’t approve is the towns long time mayor Wes Bussell. Stating, “Prevailing winds will spread odors and air pollutants directly into the city.” Which he believes will have an impact on a day care center and two schools, he also believes that the new plant may make cracks in the ground creating sinkholes. The plant argued against these statements saying that the new plant will create up to 40 new jobs, also the MPCA cleared that the air quality will not be affected by the new ethanol plant in there 101 page long assessment of the towns people environmental concerns.

BANKRUPT!

The current reading I did was another follow up on the Mark Petters scandal that was posted in the Star Tribune on October, 22nd. Since the time that Mark Petters was being investigated for mail fraud it seems that his companies are going down hill fast. Sun Current airlines filed bankruptcy on October, 6th. Along with that Petters co also filed for bankruptcy on October, 13th, and to make this even worse for Mark Petters he also has 30 civil lawsuits filed against him right now. This case has gotten so out of hand in the last moth that the judge has called a “timeout” for the current time. Mark Petters was given an extra 60 days to organize his files for his case. At this time Petters Co only has about 100,000 dollars and that will be enough to “make payroll” said Judge Kishel. Until the final verdict comes out I think we will keep having to see all of Petters companies continue to slide downhill.

Music

Hero in a box assignment. -Music Heroes
Music is a way that people can express themselves while spreading a message that can be inspirational for anyone who wants to listen, a band that did this the best in my opinion was the Beatles. some of their more inspiring songs were, "All you need is love" and "Let it be"

The Beatles continue to be viewed as the Heroes of music even after 38 years of the band splitting up.
Some other heroes of music are, Elvis Presley, O.A.R. Bob Dylan, Billy Joel, and Elton John because they all inspire people with there music and can help pick people up when there down.


THE BLESSINGS OF MUSIC By Aldo Kraas

Music is a gift that feels our heart each day
The blessings of music heal our souls each day
Music relieves the stress in our daily lives
Music is soothing to our ears
The blessings of music heal the sick and comfort the sick also
The blessings of music
Is powerful
It is wonderful to hear
When somebody is playing something for every one to listen
His giving you his gift of music to you and others
And to you also God
The blessings of music Music is powerful
And has a great impact in everybody’s lives
The blessings of music
Music is universal
The blessings of music
You can hear the music being played from far away
Every song is special
Every song has a different meaning and different words

"Music can name the unnameable and communicate the unknowable."- Leonard Bernstein
This quote shows that music can send a message that can't just be spoken with words.

"Were it not for music, we might in these days say, the Beautiful is dead." -Benjamin Disraeli
Music is a way for people to express themselves in any way that they want, and without music it would make it hard for some people to show who they are.

"It Occured to me by intuition, and music was the driving force behind that intuition, My discovery was the result of musical perception" (when asked about his theory of relativity) -Albert Einstein
This is the main quote that shows music can help people do great things and Albert Einstein is a great example being that he is one of the smartest people that ever lived. So him being inspired to make his theory of relativity by music is amazing.

Conclusion
Music is a hero in itself for many people, whether people are making it or just listening to it. It can inspire people to do great things by the messages that the songs put out or it can be a lifestyle for people to make money off of. All in all without music people would be more stressed and they would lack a way to express themselves.

Is collage really worth it?

The last article that I read I was in Chicago for, so my article is from the Chicago Tribune. The article I read was called “Is collage worth it?” This article was posted on October 14th and it argues if collage is really worth the debt you take on. The argument from Sandy Baum was, "If you're going to be a nursery school teacher your whole life, you should not be taking out a lot of loans". Meaning if you going to stay in a lower profession for you whole life maybe collage just isn’t worth it. The counter argument came from Ernest Pascarella as she stated, “There's value added when it comes to critical thinking and moral reasoning” arguing their more that comes out of collage then just the education alone. Not going to collage is a risky decision but as time go’s on it seems that going to collage could be just as risky.

Another Murder in Minneapolis

The article that I chose to read this week was in the Star Tribune about and 18 year old who gunned down outside of a Minneapolis home. The victim was identified as Jesse Mickelson, a local in south Minneapolis. When the police were called they found him already dead in an alley. There was no known reason for the shooting, nothing relating to gang history or anything. Just this year there have been thirty murders in Minneapolis alone. The reason I chose to write about this article is because I think all of the violence going on in Minneapolis is ridicules, the constant loss of life for no apparent reason. I think that Jesse’s death should be a wake up call for our government to step in and really up the police force around the area or to try to create more recreational activities for the younger kids of the future to grow up in a safer environment with out the worry’s of being murdered like Jesse.

Petters Scandle Starts to Unfold

My current reading this week was the most recent article in the Mark Petters scandal in the star tribune. Today Deanna Coleman, Robert Dean White, and Michael Catain admitted their roles in stealing the 3 billion dollars from mail fraud. The one who first came forward and fessed up was the vice president of operations for Petters Co. She said that she would rather go to jail then keep going with their schemes and scamming money from investors. Mark Petters has still not pled guilty but has no bail so he will have to remain in jail until his court date comes around. Robert White is facing up to a 20 years term in prison for a single count of mail fraud, and a maximum or 10 more years for money laundering. Robert White, Deanna Coleman, and Michal Catain were all released on $25,000 bonds per person today. I plan on staying with this story. So yeah.. Stay tuned.

I-35 W Bridge

What I most currently read was an article on the progress of the I-35 W bridge from the Star Tribune. Back in August 1st the I-35 bridge collapsed, and 13 people lost their lives. Though the new bridge opened on September 18th the project on 35 W is not yet complete. On the project of completing 35W the contractors Flatiron Constructors Inc were hired, they singed a 234 dollar contract to complete the project, and they were eligible to earn and extra 27 million if they finished the bridge before their deadline of December 24th.. Although some people are questioning why we can construct a bridge in 11 months, but can’t finish highway 494 before and estimated 4 years of reconstruction. The answer to that question was pure funding from the state. Although the 35W bridge collapsing was a tragic event reconstruction was going to be don’t on the bridge in 2012 and it would’ve taken much longer and funding would’ve been substantial for that two.

Mark Petters Scandle

The most recent article I read was about Tom Petters. Tom Petters is a billion dollar man, he got his fortune from being an entrepreneur. he owned Sun Country airlines he also owned and invested in many other companies. Currently Tom Petters is being charged with mail fraud. One of his associates is the scheme was secretly recorded by federal agents. While being recorded he said that he suspected they had taken about 2 billion dollars from the government since 1995. On another one of the recording secret agents obtained they caught Tom Petters talking about "fleeing the country and creating fabricated defenses if the fraud scheme is discovered". A company that is Marjory suffering from this fraud scandal is the Fidelis Foundation who was a massive investor in a non prophet organization called Minnesota teen challenge which treats over 400 teens and adults that have bad addictions. If these charges follow through this charity could lose major funding.

Animal Dream Comparison

On the bubble map in my notebook I had to Define Emalina, the adjectives I chose to use for her were. Respected, Demanding, Motherly, Short, Happy, and Giving. My other character is Codi, if I needed to pick adjectives for Codi they would be. Paranoid, Lost, Smart, Tall, and Loved. We can all tell that Emalina and Codi are completely different people from how they both live their lives. An adjective that shows the differences between Emalina and Codi is that Emalina is happy and Codi feels lost. I know that Emalina is happy because you can tell she feels a sense of belonging in Grace. On the other hand Codi feels very lost in Grace, a specific example of this is on page 182, the quote said. “Home is the place where, when you have to go there, They have to take you in. I don’t want to be seen as pitiful”. These are some of the things that show the differences with Emilia and Codi but they also have some similarities. Two Adjectives I have that show the similarities in Emilia and Codi are that Emilia is giving and Codi is loved. Emilia is giving because she offered her guest house to Codi for her whole return to Grace, that exampled also shows how Codi is loved. Another example of how Codi is loved is how she got offered to get her teaching license renewed for the upcoming year at grace high school.

Adjective Paper

If I needed to pick an adjective that described me it would have to be determined. There are many reasons I would pick but one of the main ones is that I try my best at everything I do. Some examples in my life of how I’m determined would be when I wakeboard, when I try to land a new trick wakeboarding I fall a lot, But every time I fall I get back up and try it again until I get it right. But that’s just outside of school. In my school year I need all the determination I can muster out to get through the year on the top of my game. All in all I would defiantly call myself a very determined person shown in everything I do.