CEJ #5

Tia Collins

2-26-13

Meteor Blast In Russia

Drajem, Mark
The Washington Post
February 24, 2013
In the News
http://www.washingtonpost.com

On February 15th a meteor flying at 11 miles per second hit Russia, injuring over 1,200 people. This meteor caused the most damage since the meteor blast in 1908 which caused a 800 square mile flattened area. After this event, scientists started thinking of ways to prevent asteroids from hitting earth. Their idea is to create $350 million project that should take at least a decade to create. The creation will be a rocket that will propel into the asteroid which will hopefully knock it off course.

I watched videos of the meteor flying towards Russia, and it looked like it must have been very scary to be there, or even within a hundred miles of this event. There were pictures and videos of buildings that had their windows busted. I read on this website; http://gizmodo.com that the meteor was heard from half way around the world! It must have been awful for the people's ears who were close to it.

CEJ #4

Tia Collins
February 13, 2013

Spinach Recalled For E. Coli

Terry, Lynne
The Oregonian
February 13, 2013
Local

It was recently announced that spinach grown under Taylor Farms Retail, Inc. has been found to be contaminated by E.coli. A number of labels selling this spinach are being notified to pull all of their spinach products off of retail shelves. Some of these labels are: Central Market, Full Circle, Market Side, Simple Truth and Taylor Farms.  These labels are sold nationwide. E.coli is a dangerous bacteria that can cause kidney failure and in extreme cases even death.

This same situation has happened many times in the past. I think that they should have a better inspection process when checking spinach, or other food to make sure E. coli doesn't make it into our grocery stores. I won't be eating any spinach for a while. I hope people don't get sick with this recent outbreak of E. coli, because it is very dangerous. 

Video Game Response

2-5-12

Video Game Response

I am not a very big fan of video games. When I was younger I would play a video game called Mario Party with my family on our game cube. We had a bit of a collection of different Mario games. We had Mario Party 1, 2, 3 and 4, we also had Mario Sunshine, Paper Mario, Mario Galaxy and many more. I would play them with my family all the time. When I was five my brother had a gameboy, it's was very small and shaped as a rectangle. I would play it a lot. I loved playing a game called Zelda on it. When I was seven the Nintendo DS came out and I got one. I always played Nintendogs. Shortly after that I played video games less. I don't play video games that often now. If I were to choose a video game to play it would probably a Mario game or Plants Vs. Zombies I like playing Pacman too. I hate games with blood and zombies.

I think the reason I would play video games so much when I was younger is because my Dad used to play video games. I grew up around people who would play games a lot which influenced me to. My Dad, Brother and Uncle all played video games. I don't necessarily dislike video games, but i'd rather spend my time doing something else, such as listening to music or playing on my phone. Other times i'll walk around town with my friends.

Ender's Game Questions Chapt. 6 - 8

Chapter 6

1. The purpose of the Giant's Game is that they wanted to see what Ender would do if something like that actually happened. Ender knew he would die with whichever drink he chose, so in self defense he killed the guy. I don't think he's a murder for that.

Chapter 7

1. Alai said "Salaam." to Ender. This was important it's not something Alai should have done, it showed that Alai had respect towards Ender and supports him.

2. The "just living" in this chapter was the idea of a normal life which I don't think Ender has. To have a normal life wouldn't be what Ender's life is. Ender has to wake up and train at battle school.

3. Petra helped Ender by helping him train in the battle room. She said to Ender "Why don't we be friends?" She isn't very loved by the others, Ender thinks that if he becomes good friends with her that he won't be popular, he still wants to be friends with her though.

Chapter 8

1. When Graff says "Ender Wiggin is ten times stronger than I am." meant that Graff knew how strong physically and emotionally strong Ender is. Graff knows that Ender is more clever than many of the other people.

2. The quote "So teach me." "So learn." means that you have to learn the stuff you want to learn on your own and you can't rely on other people to teach you.

3. Ender's response to the attack showed that he is okay with being violent and that if he needs to rip someones ears off he will.

4. The scene with the snake and Peter's reflection represented that Ender was starting to act like Peter. Ender doesn't want to act like Peter though.

5. The game knows because they watch what Ender is doing at battle school, they knew that Ender didn't want to be like Peter.

6. The last paragraph was important because it showed that Ender didn't like how when he hurt someone he felt as if he was being like Peter. It also said he felt like he was being used to fix everything.

CEJ #3

Tia Collins
2-6-12

Postal Service Will Stop Delivering Mail On Saturdays

Bacon, John and Leinwand, Leger
USA Today
National
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/02/06/us-postal-service-delivery-mail-saturdays/1895277/

On Wednesday, it was announced that Postal Service will not be delivering mail on Saturdays. It is said that this plan will save about 2 billion dollars  annually. Many states were upset with this and are reliant on a six day mail delivery. Postmaster Patrick Donahue said "It's an important part of our strategy to return to financial stability."

At first I thought it wasn't that big of a deal that Postal Services won't be delivering mail on Saturdays. Then I realized that so many people make purchases online and request next day or 2 day delivery. This won't work well for purchases made right before the weekend. Some of these deliveries might include important items such as medications or business documents, things that are time sensitive and will have to wait until Monday. I imagine this is upsetting to many people.

CEJ #1

Tia Collins
2-5-12

World's Largest Cat Dies

Sonner, Scott
Times Standard
2-5-12
World
http://www.times-standard.com/weirdnews/ci_22524177/stewie-worlds-longest-cat-dies-nevada

Stewie, who was declared Worlds Largest Cat in August 2010 with a measurement of 48.5 inches from the nose to tail, passed away. Stewie was battling cancer in 2011-2012. In early 2012 Stewie was diagnosed with a malignant disease on his lymphoid tissues, but was declared to be cancer free. Large tumors were found on his kidneys and his health was declining. Stewie was then put to sleep at age 8. Stewie was a Main Coon and is famously known in the Guinnes Book of World Records.

When I came across this article it fascinated me and I wanted to know more about Maine Coons. I learned Main Coons are very large cats and one of the oldest breeds of domestic cats in North America.  Males weigh from 15 to 25 lbs and females 10 to 15lbs. They are known to chatter and "talk back" to their owners. and be very intelligent cats. They are often seen in cat shows, as Stewie attended in Portland. Stewie seemed like a very cool cat and he has inspired me to want a Maine Coon as a pet someday.

CEJ #2

Tia Collins 

2-5-12

President Obama Presses For Gun Control

Pickler Nedra and Pace Julie

Real Clear Politics

February 5th, 2013

Politics


http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2013/02/05/obama_stands_firm_on_gun_control_despite_long_odds_116929.html

On Monday, February 4th, President Obama took a trip to Minneapolis, Minnesota, to promote gun control. Last month after the tragic shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, the President had spoke a bit about his gun control plans. The President had said "This will be no exception. The only way we can reduce gun violence in this country is if the American people decide it's important, if you decide it's important." 

There has been a lot of talk about gun control due to recent events happening, including school shootings, deaths and injuries. One event hit close to my home, when my parents close friend was shot on New Years Eve, in Sacramento. Some people believe it is their constitutional right to bare arms and that we do not need gun control. I think that if there were stricter laws on gun use many lives would've been saved. 

Enders Game Questions Chapters 1-5

Chapter 1|

1. I think that what motivated the adults to lie to Ender saying it wasn't going to hurt him because they thought he would get scared and nervous he knew it would hurt. He knows that they are lying though.


2. I think that Ender being born as a 'Third' child means that he is kind of like the runt of the children. I don't think it was a positive thing for Peter because Ender may get more attention because he is a 'Third' and that may make people pay more attention to Ender, which could make Peter left out. I think it is sort of deal with Valentine, she probably feel left out when Ender has the spotlight, but she loves him a lot so it probably wouldn't bug her as much as it would Peter. For his classmates, I don't think it would affect them to much.

Chapter 2

1. I think Peter was sort of joking. I think for a moment he meant it but when he had the chance to hurt him he didn't. He may have wanted to but he wouldn't have actually wanted to harm them.
2. I think that Peter's behavior changed by the end of the chapter is because he started to feel sorry for being mean to him.
3. I think Ender seems like a nice guy, to me it seems that if he needed to, he could turn into a violent guy though. Valentine, in my opinion, seems very sweet and loving, you could tell she cared about Ender a lot. Peter seemed like a rude person to me, it seemed like he was very jealous of Ender.

Chapter 3

1. I think that what Graff meant about evolution working against girls is he thinks girls aren't able to fight because they are too weak and caring so they wouldn't want to hurt anyone.
2. When Ender was leaving to learn how to fight a war, I think he grabbed Graff's hand because he was scared, he was only 6 years old.

Chapter 4

1. When Graff said that "Individual human beings are tools that the others use to help us all survive" I think Graff was saying that everyone depends everyone, people use other people to survive.
2. "Isolate him enough that he remains creative-otherwise he'll adopt the system here and we'll loss him." means that they want to isolate Ender from the other students so he won't become close friends with them because if he does he'll act more like them.
3. I do not think that Ender meant to break the kid's arm. I think he was trying to hurt the boy but not as bad as he did. I don't think he knew that he was even strong enough to do that.

Chapter 5 

1. Ender works hard to express his feelings in private and not show homesickness in front of any other person. I don't think it is healthy to not show your feelings but for some people it may be a positive thing because if you are a emotional person you may get made fun of.
2. Ender made jokes about Bernard instead of using violence, I think Ender did this to so people wouldn't take Bernard serious.
3.