SOPA/PIPA/CISPA

In the past year, online privacy has become an extremely powerful source of controversy. It has in fact always been a questionable topic, but within the past few months, the controversy has grown. Many bills have been looking for votes in the House of Representatives and the Senate, and websites have been fighting back.

Many anti-privacy protests have been emerging in the past few months along with the bills. One is SOPA or Stop Online Piracy Act. Many websites joined in on the fight against these privacy acts, including Tumblr, Google, and many others. I use Tumblr and had the decision that day to "black-out" my tumblr which basically prevented anyone one from seeing it, as a boycott against censoring and privacy laws.


Another protest is CISPA, or Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act. This protest has many more websites joining in the fight, including Facebook and Microsoft. According to FoxNews, the objective of this program is to prevent and "prohibit Washington from forcing private companies to hand over information and to help American businesses protect their computer networks and intellectual property from cyber attacks". 

In regards to this issue, I have to say that I disagree with the government claims that they have the right to take personal information from websites. People put their information into websites with the understanding that it is secure, and if the information were then given to the government this would not be the case. I feel as though it would anger many consumers and prevent people from using certain website, which would be a huge setback for many websites. I also do not agree that the government has the right to censor the internet. If it were censored, almost everything on the internet would be illegal, as pretty much everything today is at least somewhat suggestive of any sort of "censor-able" subject. 

The Fight Against Global Warming

Within the past 10 or so years, Global Warming, a phenomenon in which our carbon emissions have begun to deplete the ozone layer and allow more and more "greenhouse gases" to trap sunlight inside, has become a problem seemingly too large to fix. This may or may not be true depending on how one looks at it. Although the problem may be too far gone to fix completely, there are certainly ways in which Americans can make a change in their everyday lives.

The most important thing Americans can do, is to spread the word. A powerful example of this is with the Kony 2012 video, which recently went viral and influenced the awareness of millions of Americans all across the country. With such a powerful media force today, this would not be terribly difficult, if only it was attempted.

The documentary An Inconvenient Truth is one such example of a media propaganda. This movie describes in detail many of the changing aspects of our world because of global warming, and creates a powerful visual towards the need for change. Despite these brilliant uses of media, not enough people have witnessed the movie, which forces the movie to lose its power. If only this was required to watch in schools, more people would get to view it and learn about the ways in which they could make a change.
After the first time I viewed this film last year, I had a discussion with my family about the need to change our everyday living customs. Both my brothers and I were able to describe to my parents the various ways in which Al Gore showed the deprecating planet conditions. If everyone were to see this movie in school, millions of these conversations would be taking place, and millions of changes would be made every day in regards to our planet.

Other ways in which we can help make a difference are certain things such as riding a bike rather than driving everywhere, only using as much gas as necessary, taking shorter showers, recycling, using less water, etc. There are many ways in which Americans can make a change, we just need to step up and do it. We know the truth about global warming and now it is time to react.

Linsanity

I found this article extremely interesting because it was something that we have all seen first hand. The racism and discrimination towards Asian-Americans is something that has become extremely prevalent in our society, and usually does not even turn a head. It's hard to say what would be a valid survey to test this racism, but there are a variety of different ways to go about it. For one, you could ask show 100 random people a picture of an Asian-American, and tally how many people think this person could be in the NBA. Many people would most likely say no, that it would be extremely unlikely for this person to be in the NBA. They'd more likely have musical talent, or be good at math, etc., would be the common answer. You could ask about Jeremy Lin, and it seems to me that most people would claim that he is the exception and nothing else, which deems ridiculous in my mind. Another option would be to show the same picture and ask what subjects this person would most likely be good at. Math and Science again would be the most bourgeois answer. Many would not even blink an eye when saying this. They would not even realize they had followed what could be viewed as an offensive stereotype.

Although I do agree that the discrimination towards Asian-Americans is extremely un-American, this survey does not seem very valid. This is because, the information presented is 20 years old, making it irrelevant, as this may not be the case anymore. Also, they only provided information from a few Ivy Leagues, rather than providing information from multiple different sources, including the non-Ivy League's to show the difference.

 

Is Natural Gas the Answer to all our Problems?

Although on the outside it may seem as though natural gas is the answer to all our problems, things may not be so simple. There certainly are many benefits pushing us towards the use of natural gas but one must question whether it is really worth it.

           

Some benefits include the extremely abundant supply. We would most likely never run out, for as well as it can be produced in so many ways, it also, according to the article, costs about a third less than oil per unit of energy. Oil today is extremely expensive and hard to come by, and this lowered cost and abundance might, not only help our economy, but could be a huge time-saver when it comes to production. As well as all that, the article says that power plants fueled by natural gas are much cheaper and faster to build, which would make power plant assembly. Finally, coal emits twice as much carbon into the air as natural gas, which is extremely detrimental to the atmosphere and environment, especially in the state we have already put ourselves in. In these ways, natural gas may seem to hold the answer to our biggest problems, and it may be easy to forget the obvious question of what are the bad things about natural gas? But this question may be the most important part of the controversy. It may seem impossible that something so beneficial could have negative aspects, but in many ways, the negatives outweigh the benefits.

For starters, gas tends to be an even worse greenhouse gas generator than coal. Although it may release about half as much CO2 as coal, when unburned, natural gas is an extremely powerful greenhouse gas. In the article, it says, “One molecule of leaked gas contributes as much to global warming as 25 molecules of burned gas.” So, despite the positive that when burned it is not dangerous, when left alone, which it probably would be more often than not, is just as potent as 25 molecules of burned gas.

            

Also, gas tends to leak consummate amounts. According to the article, the exact amount is unknown, but “Estimates range from 1.5 percent to as high as 8 percent,” and “Even near the low end of that range, gas can be as bad as coal.” With such huge leaks, its hard to say whether it would be safe for people to live near these power plants or even to work in them in general.

Overall, its hard to say what the outcome of natural gas would be, but why leave it to question? It would be irresponsible to allow the use of natural gas without a full understanding of the possible repercussions. At this time, it would not be realistic to risk our environment even further. 

           

The Amish Project

I honestly really enjoyed reading this article. I think that is such a hard decision for a person to make; it seems almost impossible to not rely on electronics for communication. But I also feel like it's a very smart thing to do. Sometimes the lack of involvement with our peers is frustrating, but it is really necessary to learn about yourself. I used to go to camp for a month every summer in Minnesota. It was a month of meeting new people and not always being in the bubble of Greenwich. There were no cell phones or computers at camp and we conversed with our parents using letters. It taught me that it is in fact possible to live without the advantages of electronics, and going back this summer will deplete my need for these so-called necessities again. A lot of people would not be able to handle the sense of being so far out of the loop, but if you can, you'll be a more sociable and understanding person.

The Octet Rule

Atoms, just like people, are always looking to be happy. But unlike us, their happiness comes from having 8 valence electrons, meaning 8 electrons in their outermost shell. In the first shell, atoms are able to hold 2 electrons, in the second 8, and in the third 8 as well. To be happy, atoms have two options, they can either try gaining electrons so as to achieve 8 in their second or third shell, or they can give away electrons to other atoms that need them more so as to only fill two shells rather than all three.

One day Oxygen (O) was trying to decide on an outfit to wear to school, but there was a problem. Nothing seemed to fit right! She had thought she was in perfect shape. Her protons and neutrons were looking good and she was pretty confident, until today. She looked down. "OH NO!" she exclaimed! "I completely forgot! I'm so unhappy.." What she saw when she looked down was an unfinished 3rd shell and she started to panic. She threw on her baggiest clothes, as she was extremely embarrassed about her homely appearance. Walking through school seemed like such a disgrace. She could feel people's glares on her back. "This is the worst day ever..." she thought. She first went to her best friend Nitrogen (N). "Do you think you could lend me an electron or two? I'm short two and it's making me so upset!" Nitrogen grimaced. "Well actually I just gained three from Boron (B) and I'm really not willing to give any up right now. I'm so sorry Oxygen you know normally I would." Oxygen shrugged. She understood where Nitrogen was coming from. "I'll ask around for you though!" Nitrogen offered. Oxygen pouted. "It's okay! Thanks anyway Nitrogen!" She tried to sound sincere. Oxygen was so dismayed. If Nitrogen wouldn't help her, it seemed nobody would. That is, until she saw Magnesium (Mg). She too was walking around in her baggiest clothes, sporting a frown across her nucleus. "Excuse me? Magnesium? I have a question." Oxygen introduced herself and attempted to find the words to describe her dilemma. "Well," she started. "I noticed that you too are wearing baggy clothes... and I was wondering if it's because you need two valence electrons like me?" Magnesium looked down, obviously embarrassed. "Actually I need 6. Unless I just give away two, which would probably work as well. I really just need to reach 8!" Oxygen's smile could have rivaled a hyena's. "Perfect!!" she proclaimed. "We're in luck! I need two to reach 8 and you need to get rid of two!" Magnesium grinned. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" She questioned. "I don't know... Maybe? What exactly are you thinking?" Oxygen asked. "Well, I was thinking I could give you my two 3rd shell electrons! I don't need them, and I don't think anyone is likely to give up 6, so I might as well just give you mine and reach 8 in the second shell!" Oxygen looked up at Magnesium. "That's a great idea!!! Are you sure you don't mind?" "Positive." Magnesium replied. "I'd be happy to give you them." Magnesium pulled off the two electrons and handed them to Oxygen. Neither of them could help beaming at their new-found friendship and filled shells.

What makes up atoms?

Although I cannot see you

I know that you are there

The protons, neutrons, and electrons 

That flow everywhere 

First we'll look at protons 

There is a lot to learn

Not only do they weigh one gram 

But the atomic number they earn

Because they have a positive charge

They make a big impact 

Hopefully these atoms will all stay in tact 

Now we'll move to Neutrons and

As the name will tell 

Neutrons have a neutral charge 

Which treat that atom well

From there we'll discover electrons

Which flow outside in rings

These rings they call orbitals

Are quite interesting things

They come in S,D,P's and F's 

Depending on how many 

Electrons you can find in each 

Which usually.... is plenty

So now you know your particles

Hopefully I helped your studies

Protons, Neutrons, and Electrons 

They'll end up your best buddies