Driving while texxting

Many people say that texting while driving is bad, but the way that I see it when some one is texting and driving texting is the first priority so it's more like driving while texting. There are many statistics about texting while driving and lets face it, it's dangerous for everyone around you. While driving you are more focused on that one important text to you best friend, but that one text can be deadly to you or an innocent person. In a study about driving whiel texting it was proven that you are able to stop faster for a pedestrian if you have had a couple of alcoholic drinks versus while texting. While sending one text you can drive the distance of a football fielda and float into a different lane of traffic. This can lead to someone driving into a median or into oncoming traffic. Also, if a car slams on it's brakes and your texting you don't see the brake lights right away and that can lead to rear ending someone. All of these things are risks that shouldn't be taken especially with the new no texting while driving laws. There are still many things that need to be worked on with texting while driving. The laws need to be stricter and more regularly enforced, but the new changes are leading to much safer road conditions. The main question to ask yourself when you get into your car is should you risk yours and others lives? Just set your phone down and wait to stop and park before texting.

Social Networking

With Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter there is really no way for people not to know what is going on in your life 24/7. But how is this affecting young adults? There are a lot of positives and negatives to social networking for young adults. A positive is that it keeps them connected with their peers so that they can work on projects and get help on questions from class. It also is a good way to stay connected with family that lives farther away from them and they can converse about what they are doing in their lives. There are also some negatives to consider as well. For one there are many dangerous and harmful people online that will try and talk to young adults and some don't know any better when they talk to these strangers. Also, these sites can get destracting and can cause delay on doing homework and other things that need to be done in their lives. There are many things that parents need to consider before allowing their child to join a social network site. Parents should know the passwords and be able to monitor what their child is doing on these sites. Parents should also communicate with their children about what is and isn't safe about these site. They should also have trust with their children and be able to talk to them if the child feels that something on the site is wrong or unsafe.

Living on your own

There are many essential things that you need to know as a college student before you move on your own and while you live on your own. The major thing is that you have to be able to budget your money. Make lists that will help you plan out what bills you will need to pay and the things that are essential to living on your own such as groceries, hygenic products, and if you have a car gasoline. You should also plan out your money from each check that you recieve from work, making sure to plan money for your rent, electric bill, car payments and insurance, as well as cable, phone and internet bills. Living on your own also means paying for things that come up in an emergency so you should set money aside and put it into savings. You also need to set aside some money for yourself to spend even if it is only five dollars you need some money for you. Another big thing that is vital to living on your own is that you need to have a cleaning schedule, keeping your house clean is very important. Make a chores list of things that you need to do everyday each week, this will help you keep a clean house. You also need to budget all of your time. Set times to study, work, clean, and time for you. If you have set times for everything it will be easier to accomplish everything you need to each day and in turn you will have less stress. These are just a few of the major things that you need to do to be able to live on your own successfully as a college student. Organization is key!

Wangari Maathai

I recently did a paper on Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Wangari Maathai. She is an amazing women that has accomplished many things. She was the first woman from her country to recieve a bachelors degree and she went on to earn a PhD. Mrs. Maathai also taught classes at a college in her country and headed the department that she taught in. She has been on many diffrent boards and held many high positions in diffrent organizations. Wangari Maathai has recieved many diffrent awards for her efforts in democracy and her environmental efforts. She started the Green Belt Movement on her own by planting just seven trees in her country of Kenya. She has developed her movement into a country wide movement, with over 2 million trees planted she and the many people that help her. She has had local and small farmers help her and many school children have also helped her in planting all of the trees. When asked why she started the Green Belt Movement she said “I observed these processes of desertification happening in our backyard. I noticed springs that I knew as a child, drying up, and I saw water levels going down…and I could see there was no longer firewood.” She recieved the Nobel Prize for Peace in 2004 for her works. This is by far the biggest and most distinguised award that she has recieved. Wangari Maathai is an amazing women that countinues to change her country and the world.

Mind Blank

I am drawing a mind blank on what to write about for my blog, so I decided that I would define a "Mind Blank". I'll break it down, the definition of mind is the individual consciousness, memory, or recollection and the definition of blank is not having received final processing; unfinished. We all have mind blanks everyday, but what leads to them? You brain may already know the answer to what you are questioning, but it has a problem connecting and recieving the information. It can also lead to someone saying that they have the answer on the tip of their tongue. All of these thoughts are silly because often times the answer is stored in you memory, but you either haven't used it in a long time or just learned it recently so it's not as strongly imprinted in your memory. This is a common problem for many students during their tests, they will often know the answer but at the testing time they can't pull the information from their memory.

Sexting

My roommate recently wrote a paper about sexting and she was sharing information with me that I found quite interesting. Did you know that over 75% of females that have graduated from high school have sent nude pictures to someone? I think that this is a shocking statistic that is cause for many problems in the United States. There are so many young people that look up to celebrities and not always are they the best role models. For example Miley Cyrus and Brett Favre have been caught sending nude photos to others. These are people that children and teenagers look up to, if they are setting bad examples these young adults are going to do the same thing. There was a story about a young teen that sent a half naked photo of herself to her boyfriend at the time and he ended showing the photo to his friends at school. The girl was teased and harassed so much that she took her own life. It's stories like this that make you think that there has to be a way to change what is happening. The laws on sexting are very gray and it is hard to walk the fine line on what is right and wrong. There needs to be changes and laws created so that there aren't anymore lives lost. Parents need to talk to their children and let them know that sexting is wrong and it isn't safe because they can't be sure who will or will not see their photos or texts.

cyber bullying

I have read a lot lately about how out of hand cyber bulling is becoming. There are a lot of things that have changed in the past few years that have made bullying easier for kids and teens at younger ages. Cell phones, easy access to the internet and things such as xbox live are just a few of the ways for young adults to be bullied. It is easier for the bullies to get away with it also because parents are monitoring the time spent online and with cell phones as closely anymore. The stories that have been on the news lately really get you to think about what needs to be done about this. There are young adults that have taken their own lives because of the stress from this bullying, while the bully gets in little to no trouble at all. Proof is lacking in this because conversations can't always be saved and seen later. I have seen this problem first hand with my younger brother. He has be bullyed recently by a "friend" online. My mom has found it increasingly difficult to take care of this problem because she's been having a hard time getting proof of whats going on. She talked to my brother and the "friends" mother, but other then that there isn't much she can do besides talk to my brother. A big problem with this is that it has nothing to do with the schools so the teachers and principals can't take any course of action about the cyber bullying. I think that there needs to be changes to how young adults can use the internet and I also think that parents need to talk to their children about bullying on the internet so that the kids know what to so if this happens to them.

Meaning of Christmas

I was listening to the radio today when the host of the morning show started to talk about Christmas and how many kids think that it just about presents. With the time we live in there are many families that don't have enough money to be able to give the kids the Christmas that they want. I think that a lot of the kids need to learn what the true meaning of Christmas is. It's a time for families to spend time together and enjoy each others company. It's a time for people who are religious to give thanks to God and remember what Jesus sacraficed. I think that many parents need to get their children back to the basics and let them see that Christmas isn't all about presents. There are so many great traditions that me and my family have together so that we dont lose the meaning of Christmas. We spend time walking through the Rotary Lights together, we go to church on Christmas eve, and we have both sides of our family over on diffrent days to get together and celebrate. There are many things that families can do to be together and remember Christmas for everything that it is and I think that kids really need to learn these things and see how much more there is to Christmas.

Blue

There are many things in this world that are blue. The sky, a flower, rivers, and oceans just to name a few, but what happens when people stop caring about these beautiful gifts that nature has given to us? The abuse to the environment is a growing problem that has been going on for to long. Many big companies take little care to watch the polutants that are going into the ozone from their buildings. There are also many companies that don't take care to make sure that they aren't dumping harmful pollutants into the water. Accidents and things that companies know are goign on are slowly killing the environment. For example the oil spill in the gulf this summer killed thousands of animals that lived there, it hurt the communitites in the south and more importantly it hurt the ecosystems in the ocean. The damages done will take decades to repair and it will take years for things to go back to a working order. Smog advisorise in diffrent communitites are something that is very bad for everyone. They hurt the environment because of pollutatnts being let out and they harm people as well because of the toxins that are in the smog. The biggest fear is to wonder how long will it be before all of these beautiful blue things in nature are gone.