This week went by fast.

This week has been okay. Nothing exciting really happened, but overall it was decent. I hate missing days of school because  once I'm behind, its so hard to get back on track. Hopefully I'm back to the ball my Monday.

This week we learned about A. S. P. E. C. T., which is our terms for the week. The A stands for authority, which suggests that you look for who the author is when finding an article. The S stands for sources. This helps you to figure out if they have their sources cited. P stands for purpose. Find out what the purpose of the article is. E stands for evenness. Decide if the article is even and informational enough. C stands for coverage. Does it provide you with everything you need to know? And finally, T stands for timeliness. Is the article up to date with your topic?

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We learned about A. S. P. E. C. T. from the Iris Evaluating Information Website.This was our digital literacy component. It helps us decide whether an article is trust worthy when we need information. This website was very helpful, because I learned a lot of valuable tips that I would have overlooked if I hadn't read this. I hope I can put those tips to use soon, because I love righting Pro Con articles. I am a master in debating.

This week, we got to learn about MindMeister, which is a website that allows you to put your information into a map. This was our 2.0 tool. I liked this a lot, because it shows the relationships between ideas, which is hard to explain when your just talking about something. Doing this map reminded me of when we had to make rough draft maps in writing class, in the fourth grade.

Create your own mind maps at MindMeister. One positive thing about using this website was that it was easy to comprehend, and it was fun to creative my vision of what I wanted my map to look like. One negative thing that I thought about the website is that I couldn't figure out how to write on the bubbles with the pictures it them. Over all, I would highly recommend the website to a friend.

 My week could have gone better, but at least I know next week will be better, because it's that much closer to my birthday than today is!

Anonymous Hackers.

Topic: Anonymous Hackers.

  Article Title: Anonymous And The War Over The Internet 

 Article Source: HuffingtonPost 

 Summary:

Anonymous is a group of hackers attacking major companies to make a statement. They wear masks to hide their identities. Participants are basically defending their rights and jobs in America. There are thousands participating in the activities, but there are no real members.

Reaction: When I found out about this, I was shocked. I had no clue about a lot of things I have recently figured out. I am not scared about the matter; I am more scared about the revolts and dangerous mobs that have formed. The participants in Anonymous have joined with the members of Occupy Wall Street to try to get what they think they deserve. This doesn't particularly affect me, it just affects the sites and apps I use.

World Impact: This impacts the world a lot, because many of the companies they have been hacking are used worldwide. They hack into websites servers and pull embarrassing pictures and information about the people they are targeting. They are angry because of how the economy has been in the past several years. A lot of the participants are people who had a hard time with jobs and money growing up. They blame their financial troubles on the governmental troubles.

Thank GOD IT'S FRIDAY!!! Weekly Blog. :)

This week has been great! New friends, amazing weather, and everyday I am closer and closer to my birthday! This week in Publications, we learned about a reputation, and some things that may affect it. A reputation is how people may see you based on the thing you've done or what they've been told. We also learned what a tag was, what it is to persist, and what context is, even though I already had an idea of what they were.

This week, we learned to edit pictures. The websites I used were PicZap and Picartia. One positive thing about editing pictures is that you can express yourself and be creative through your work. One negative thing is that it kept trowing errors about my picture, so I had to change it multiple times. I was already familiar with editing pictures, because I have an Instagram account. I love editing pictures, so this assignment was fun. I picked my original photo from FlickrCC

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The photo above was my original picture. We had to edit the picture, after we picked one.

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This is the negative picture. ^^^^

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We also had to make a positive picture (above).  I chose this, because I thought it looked cool. I'm not very good at being creative, I guess. I enjoyed this classwork a lot!

For digital literacy this week, we did the Digital License. I enjoy the digital license activities, because they show us videos and help us to explain the do's and don'ts of computer etiquette.
 This new information helped me a lot, because I used to type in all caps sometimes. The lessons also helped me to understand how someone might feel if I posted a picture of them that they might not like.

My week has been really good when it comes to the days in general. I'm not doing so good with my grades, though. I am a big procrastinator when it comes to studying, and it's starting to reflect in my work. Hopefully I can get my grades up to A's before the period ends!

Ebola Breakout

 Topic: The disease, Ebola, spreading to the United States major cities.

Article Title: Ebola Outbreak Could Spread To Major Towns Soon, WHO Warns

 Article Source: Huffington Post

 Summary: In the past couple weeks, the Ebola virus killed 36 citizens in The Republic of the Congo. It also killed 16 in the neighboring country, Uganda. This virus has no cure, and is spreading to the United States' major cities. There are now 65 probable cases, and 108 people under suspected surveillance.

                                                           



                    
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 Reaction: When I first found out, I was terrified. Ebola has been my nightmare since I was 7. I could have any other disease in the world, just not Ebola. It is a terrible disease, and I wouldn't wish it upon even the cruelest people. Ebola is when your organs get shut down, one by one, and then they liquify. You bleed out of every hole in your body. Once the virus is contracted, you have about 48 hours to live. I couldn't imagine enduring that pain.

 World Impact: This could end up as a world wide spread epidemic. Ebola spreads fast, and a lot of people travel through planes.The disease can be spread through the air, or touch. I suggest everyone keeps hand sanitizer at all times, because it may save your life in the long run. Already 2 million dollars have been put into trying to find a cure, and trying to stop the virus from spreading. However, nothing has stopped the deaths. Ebola kills 90% of all victims, and it is one of the top ten most deadly diseases. This is one disease I definitely don't want to catch!

Weekly Blog.

Well, this week has been pretty fun. I know almost all of the kids in my graduating class, and I'm starting to get comfortable around them. It seems like everyone is getting more and more social every week. I'm so glad we are all becoming great friends.

This week we learned more about the parts of a complex sentence, which is really exciting for me because I understand it so well! My favorite parts of the whole lesson are when I got to help other people who didn't understand. I love sharing my catchy ways of learning, because it could help someone when they need it the most. I also love diagramming the sentences!

We also learned about Animoto, which is an awesome website that allows you to put information into a slide show with music. I really enjoyed it, because I got to pick which format and what music to use. I really got to show my creativeness through my slide show and pictures. It even shows you how long your presentation is as you add slides and pictures to it! I love Animoto.

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One positive thing I really liked about Animoto, is that there were many formats that you could use. You could even customize your own format. The themes were all linked to the music for each format, and the color schemes were so creative. One negative thing about Animoto, is that I couldn't figure out how to show one slide for a longer period of time than another slide. They were all shown at the same time lapse.

I saw on Schoology that the class learned how to edit your work, but I'm not sure how to do it because I was out of Friday. I will review it in class on Monday, when I have free time. Hopefully I already know how to do most of it.

Like I said before, I haven't gotten a chance to look at the lesson, but it would help to change any mistakes that you might have previously made in your work. You can also go back and retype your work to make it sound better or more intelligent. There are a lot of things you can fix by editing your work.

Overall, my week has been very good. I got to go the beach, I met some new people, and I FINALLY understanding my lessons in every class. I'd say it's been a pretty amazing week! I hope every one's week has been exciting and fun filled, and that this upcoming week is going to be even better!

New Monkeys Found in Africa

1. Topic: African Monkeys

• What is the topic of your article? New Monkeys found in Africa.

2. Article Title:  New Monkey Species Found

• What is the title of your article? New African Monkey Species Identified

  
  

3. Article Source: . Science Daily.


4. Summary: Researchers have identified a new species of monkey, called the Lesula. The first Lesula ever spotted was in 2007. After some genetic research, scientists concluded that the Lesula is a new species.



5. Reaction: I think that its cool that we're discovering new species everyday, because we are also losing species everyday. I feel that this could be bad for the monkeys though, because there's probably already poachers trying to sell them for their value. This particular event doesn’t really affect us, in the United States, but I’m sure it affects the people who live where the monkeys were discovered. I think the monkeys should be put under a protection program, because scientists don’t even know how many are in existence. Hopefully the species of monkeys won’t have the misfortune of dying out, like some species do.

6. World Impact: This discovery doesn’t really impact the world. It could be a new addition to the zoos around the world, but other than that, there is no real impact. If this discovery becomes well known, it could be a hazard to the species. Hopefully scientists can find out the population size, and how they came about, before poachers start to hunt them. I don’t see this is a world impact, because new species are found every year. It is, however, a big leap for the species of monkeys, because it is only the second type of monkeys found in the last 28 years.

It was a short week!

   This week has actually gone by pretty fast. I am starting to get use to the whole transition process. It’s been sort of hectic, though. Trying to keep up with homework, and doctor’s appointments, and keeping in touch with everyone takes up a lot of time! I'm glad I get to see all of my friends, though.

This week, we've learned a lot about phrases, clauses, subjects, and predicates. I learned most of it last year, but it’s good to review. I learned that a subject is what the sentence is about. The predicate is what the subject did, or what happened to the subject. That is just some of the things we learned.

One of these things I learned about this week was Google Reader. It helps me see and view the blogs that I like, without being on a million different websites. I find Google Reader very useful if you like to follow or subscribe to a lot of blogs, but I have never really been a fan of blogging. This is still so new to me, but I’m slowly getting used to this. I like writing with a pen and paper way more than typing on a computer. I guess this generation is just too technical for me!

The Google Reader Buttons available at http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/6/64/Google_Reader_logo.png Wednesday, February 01, 2012 9:15:25 AM
           
 One positive thing about Google Reader is that it makes it a lot easier to view your favorite blogs. A negative thing about Google Reader is that it was confusing to me and seemed complicated. Maybe it seemed complicated to me because I’m not much of a blogger, but either way I don’t think it will be something I use on the regular basis.

 A couple days ago, I learned about email etiquette. Half of the stuff in the power point was completely new to me! I’m glad I found out about spam emails and viruses, because I probably would have been one of the dumb few to actually OPEN the email. I love how much this class applies to my everyday life, unlike science or geometry. When will I ever need to know the rock cycle while checking my email? Classes like that make me wonder why we even learn the stuff.

This week has probably been the best one so far, and I hope next week is better than this one. Hopefully we’ll be in our building within the next couple weeks!

Vulture, The Unmanned Aircraft

1. Topic: Vulture, The Unmanned Aircraft


2. Article Title: 1 pt. Vulture, The Unmanned Aircraft


3. Article Source: 1 pt. Vulture Aircraft



4. Summary: 2 pt. Vulture, The Unmanned Aircraft is a new invention that will be able to stay in the air for approximately five years at a time. It is one of the most recent inventions in the world. The Vulture was created by Daniel Newman. He is the manager of the project NASA.


5. Reaction: 5 pt. I think this invention is wonderful. It is a was to send and receive information fast and effectively. Also, there is no real risk, because no one is aboard the air craft. It is remote controlled. I think this could be a big change in the U.S because it could make us so much more connected with the world.


6. World Impact: 6 pt.  I think this would impact the world very much in a positive way, because messages and information could be sent faster, and more easily. If we used Vultures worldwide, there wouldn't be much of a delay in the communication either. The only down falls to the Vulture, is that it has to carry a 1,000 pound payload in winds at an altitude of 60,000 to 90,000 feet. If Daniel Newman can perfect these flaws, this could be a huge technological improvement. I hope to soon see a Vulture Aircraft in the sky.

First Reflection ~

           These last couple weeks have been hectic! This school is nothing like I thought it was going to be like. I was expecting the regular high school atmosphere, but this is all so new to me. I miss all of my friends though. But I'm glad, because I at least get to see them in the mornings and afternoons on the bus.
           I've learned so much already. I like this school because we are offered more help than the average teacher at my home school would give. The teachers actually care here, and I'm glad I can have that opportunity to get a head start in my college education. This is a very wonderful program. At one point this week, I was ready to drop out and go to East Gaston. I just missed everyone so much, and I wanted to experience the real high school years. I'm glad my mom talked me out of it, because I'm sure it will get better once we get in the LSB building.
        I like my second block, Intro to Publications, because I like learning about copyrighting, and nouns, and that sort of thing. It's like a second English class for me, which is my favorite subject at the moment. Especially the whole 'word prefixes and suffixes' part of the curriculum. I like this stuff very much, because it helps me break down big words that I probably wouldn't know if I hadn't studied stems and suffixes. I LOVE words and spelling so this class should be fun.
       Monday I was really excited to see all of my friends on the bus and at East Gaston while waiting on the bus, but the bus was already there so I didn't get to hangout with my friends. That's how it is pretty much every day now. Tuesday, was just like any other day. This whole second plan thing really gets on my nerves because everything to too hectic all the time. But I'm sure it gets on everyone else' nerves just as much so I'll have to deal with it until the new building is finished. I think it was Wednesday that we started making our Prezi. I love Prezi because it's so much more advanced than the regular Microsoft PowerPoint. Thursday I finished up all of my Prezi, and mainly focused on my stems. I wasn't aware that we had to do a current look up EVERY Thursday, so i have a zero for last weeks assignment. I will hopefully get that done today. And Friday, we had a stems test, which hopefully i aced, and this blog, which isn't finished yet. Here is my Prezi.

       I have really enjoyed these past couple weeks, and I look forward to seeing what opportunities come to me in the future.