The Nitti Beat's Post

Break, what break? Everyday that we aren't in school i'm at work. Oh well. This christmas is going to be lousy. No snow, just rain and mud. This year has gone by so fast already, it was just like yesterday that we were playing Lake Zurich for football. Over all this break for me will be used to ketchup on sleep, work on my cars, make some cash, and most important be with my family. What would the holidays be with out families and the fun we have.

Janelle

Im so happy break is finally here..Although my family was off to a bumpy start (we went to the airport on the wrong day, our flight was supposed to be wednesday night we showed up at airport on thursday. oops!), I'm already in Florida and my parents are suprising me and my sisters with a cruise! So im leaving for that today and im really excited..I have no clue what islands im going to yet because they don't know i found out about their surprise.. but its a cruise so it will be fun. the only thing im sad about break is im not going to be home for new years. Hopefully break will go by slow because I dont wanna go back to school!!

Shannon's

My winter break should be exciting...unfortunatly it will be filled with work for Spoor.... I wish I was going on a Vacation


New topic

Two teens were charged in killing a 7 year old girl. One being her older sister, and the other her boyfriend. They told reporters they were wrestling with the young girl and practicing "Mortal Combat Moves" on her...

"Heather Trujillo told police that after they ate dinner, she and Roberts started wrestling, playing a game they called "Mortal Kombat." The affidavit says the two teens "tripped the victim, punching her in the stomach; karate chopped her lower arms, punched and pinched the victim's thighs, kicked her in the shins, slapped her stomach and buttocks, and poked at the victim's chest."

The Article:
http://www.johnstownbreeze.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=2492

How could a 16 year old not understand the consequences of her actions...why would she think it's okay to beat up your younger sister until she died? I think that showed a serious lack of judgement and reflects badly on the youth of America.

Mikie's Response

I am actually very excited for this christmas break so I can catch up on a lot of lost sleep and because about 10 friends and I are going on a ski trip for 3 days after new years. ALso I plan to go downtown on the 23rd to go to dinner and see all of the christmas lights and trees. Im very ready for the year 2008 and cant wait to go to party on new years eve and celebrate everything that has happened this year. Hope everyone has a great and safe winter break!! Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

Winter Break

Well I am not really going anywhere for winter break, although I wish I could go somewhere warmer. I will also probably spend a good amount of time doing the research paper, but other than survey homework, I don't have any other schoolwork I have to do...thanks a lot Spoor. I will go Christmas shopping for some stuff, but for the most part I am not really sure what I am going to be doing for winter break.

my winter break is gonna be pretty boring.. i think im just gonna sleep for most of it and go out when i can. its depressing when my friends are in jamaica and im sitting at home..-_-

Jamie's Post

So, what's everyone's plans for Winter Break? Anything exciting? Any travels?

T-shirts

I am a good "drawer". I could help desing the t-shirts for the team. it would be no problem. just give me a chance and i will see what i can do. Mr. English you should know what i can do.

Ryan Negele

(survay class notes)

Technology

I agree with everyone saying that technology is very good, but it comes at a price. Cellphones have helped in so many ways and make communicating with other people very easy and gets you out of tight situations because you can call for help. There is also a downside. I think even today, technology is relied upon too much. If something as simple as the electricity went out, it would be hard for people to function especially at night, because who really has a bunch of candles now a days to light up your house. Also, the computer has helped a lot with everything, whether it be to help do your homework or help to organize a persons business better, but although the computer is great, people could lose lots of money because a computer hacker could have figured out their credit card number or something.

ATTENTION

Hey guys, is anyone a good drawer in the class? The boys gymnastics team is looking for someone who can help design our T-shirts for this year. If anyone is interested please let me know ASAP. Thanks

teck

I go either way. i see that if we losse the teck that we have now we would need to adjust. but i can see the newer generation having a harder time adjusting that the older generation. I also think that the teck that we have has made our lives a lot easyer but that is a good and bad thing at the same time. what happenes when it breaks down. what then? what will we do at that point. I can tell you that there will be peoploe that will be petrofied and they will be in shock.it realy does not matter now. it is on the time of the new generation to be worried. they will be so dependent on tecknolegy that when it breaks down they will not know what to do. for us were okay now. later we need to be worried.

Scotty B's post

I don't know what to say that hasn't already been said on the technology topic, but yea I agree with everyone. The leaps we have made in technology in the last couple decades are crazy. A lot of this technology helps people, and makes us more lazy, but for the most part I think everyone enjoys the luxury of technology.

Tech

I agree that technology is becoming way to comfortable in day to day life. I am just as guilty as everyone else when it comes to this, but i wish i wasn't. As times change, people along with how they live charge with it. This is just another step towards the inevitable death of man. I do not mean so sound crazy or anything along those lines, but it is true. Man can walk on the moon, drive a boat, and surf the web, what is next? Anyone see "I am Legend" sweet movies about how the cure for cancer kills the world. It is crazy and scares me to think it may actually happen. well something along those lines.

The Nitti Beat's Post

Technology, huh. Well, i think that school is to dependent on things like tecnology. For instance, this blog. Spoor said that we have to wright on the blog 2 times a week. However easy this may seem, I think the option of writing out your thoughts of the week would be something that he should consider. There have been numorous times that I have forgotten or have not had my computer accesible to do this. Cell phones also are a bad and good thing to. If i need to be reached, then its a good thing, but if don't have it with me, then i get yelled at and i don't think it's fair. I also think the argument of, "what did people do 10 yrs ago?" is a good one because they didn't have a cell phone and every thing was fine. iPOD's are great, but depending on the one you have you get classified. Finally i think that that technology as a whole are good, but people make them too involved in their lives.

mandies post =

i agree with both shannon and bailey, people are way too dependent on technology, i freak out when i dont have my phone or my internet doesnt work. what's worse though is that technology makes everyone lazy. there is no work to do anymore, everything is done for you. it has made us impatient. i feel like cooking something in the microwave for more than a minute is forever. it takes the place of the natural world, when i was littlw i played outside for hours now kids have their own computers and flippin v-smiles and all they do is sit inside and play video games and watch tv. i dont know i think that we need to take a step back and look at where we're going, how much more advanced can we get? i cant even imagine whats in store in the years to come.

Shannon's Post

I agree with Bailey. I think technology is a great tool and is useful in so many ways. However, I think it's very dangerous for us to become to dependant on it. I know when my Internet connection is down, I'm completely lost. I have so much homework on the Internet, it's impossible for a student to not own a computer now a days. Yes, technology is replacing jobs, but it is doing many positive things as well. Just think of all the more advanced forms of research we can start doing. I think technology is a positive addition to our society as long as we don't come to depend on it too much.

Technology

I think that technology has its ups and downs. Technology is nice to have when you need to find out how to get somewhere, with things like online maps or GPS’s. Or, if you can’t spell well, computers can help alleviate the worry of spelling errors with spell check. The downside is if this kind of technology doesn’t work one day, we’ll have a bunch of people who can’t spell and don’t know where they are. It all has to do with not completely depending on technology; you have to find a balance.

technology

I just want a phone to call and text message, to be honest I don't even use my camera phone and half the stuff on it. The iphones are sweet and all but what a vanity item they are....do we really need those? I guess it makes sense for someone in a highly professional career where their phone and computer are at their side 24/7, but I just don't ever see myself needing that. I saw some weird video on youtube about the future and technology and it was crazy....very scary. I hope it doesn't go to far, I do like to feel useful sometimes.

technology

Technology seems to be improving very quickly. I remember a couple years ago, i got a phone with a camera and video camera built in it and it cost like 200-300 dollars, now it seems you can buy phones with cameras for under 100 dollars and now they have touch screens and all that crazy stuff. I also agree where technology could make the economy worse, since people that worked in tollbooths and some other jobs have been replaced by technology. I think this would just further the gap between the rich and the poor, which also shows how much a college education seems to be needed to be successful in the world

Technology scares me....It is very convenient and beneficial however, it is developing so quickly that you don't know what is out there. I remember when the Nintendo 64 came out and now XBox and Playstation 3. The Iphone came out just recently and now a new feature is being added on to it. What's next....?

We are getting to advanced for our own good. It seems like millions of jobs are being taken over by new technology...like for example at the airport....you can check in your own bags...and at tollways it is mostly ipass, which all those people who did work at those have lost their jobs because they are not needed anymore. Technology is good but it is going effect millions of people who will be out of a job and that could eventually be bad for our economy.

The IPhone... A Target?!?!

So, apparently the Apple company is saying that in about a year or so, the IPhone will spark an entire new wave of cybercrime. Not only that, but it would appear that Macworld (the main company in the U.K.) is trying to blame China for the highest number of Cybercriminals...

Getting to the point, Are we getting too advanced for our own good and are we getting too reliant on technology? Understandubly, some technologic advances have saved a lot of people's lives but what about the other stuff? What do you guys think?


Link to the article: http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9052779

Costumes...

That's just sick. That day will always be a day of mourning and those stupid kids are mocking it? The capacity for human stupidity never ceases to amaze me. In spite of it being "legal", it's still a load of crap! It's so unbelievably disrespectful. I kinda feel for the parents and families of the people who lost their lives but I have confidence that they will probably raise a Civil Suit against those kids so fast, it'll make their heads spin. I hate to bring up this issue but, it's students like this that got Holloween costumes baned here.

i agree with everybody. who does something like that? the virginia tech thing was obviously something that's a touchy subject and to make fun of it like that is so not appropriate. first of all, these kids who did this are in college, they should be able to be mature enough to know thats not funny. its just asking for people to hate you.

Virgina tech costumes

I think that it is extremely disrespectful towards the students at Virgina Tech. The students at Penn State may have done it for "shock" value but they need to take a step back and think about what a serious issue VT was. Sure, it may have only been 32 deaths of the 26,000 students but those 32 deaths shocked the US. School shootings should be taken very seriously. They may have not been trying to mock the incident, but come on, obviously the first reaction is going to be "wow, aren't they assholes".

Annihilation of Virgina Tech Respect

I think it is completely ridiculous to do something as insensitive and as disrespectful as the two students did. Yes they have freedom of speech and I guess I can't fight the fact that what they did was "legal" but that doesn't make it right. Forget shock factor, that is insulting to the people who lost their lives and the families who now have to go through the holidays with one less loved one. I don't care what reason they had to dress up like that, it was simple wrong and evil. In no case would it be "alright" for them to dress up and take away value, poke fun, and plainly disrespect a persons life. There should be consequences against the rude behavior towards another human being, living or not. This is a sickening story.

cell phones

I don't think cell phones are making us antisocial at all... But I do think that it somewhat gives us a way to hide.. Some people feel more comfortable texting than saying something face-to-face. I'm not like this at all. example:
Just this week I've gotten into a situation with one of my friends, and how does she apologize? Over a text message... That's not an apology if you ask me, maybe like a tenth of an apology.. she probably didn't want to call me, because that would cause a confrontation, and a text messaged confrontation would be easier to hide behind. So I just wrote her back saying that I'd talk to her at school the next day. It made things a lot easier and true to deal with the next day.

I also don't really like how people use cell phones as an easy way to find someone (if you're both at the same location) Who doesn't like to go on a little adventure and go run around to find your friend? It'd be a lot more fun then just calling them up and saying "ok, meet me at the blahblahblah"

New Topic

Has anyone heard about the two student's costumes at Penn State? Apparently they dressed up as Virgina Tech victims, wearing VT shirts covered in fake bullet holes and blood. The university has sent apologies to Virgina Tech, but no disciplinary action will be taken since it will violate free-speech rights. The students said it was for shock value, not to mock the massacre or to be funny.

He states, "The thing is, everybody's making a big stink about Virginia Tech. Virginia Tech was 32 deaths out of the 26 thousand that happen in America everyday," he said. "That's the problem with college students. They all live in an ivory tower of privilege. They don't understand, when it all boils down to it, it's someone wearing a costume."

What are your thoughts? Do you think it was an insensitive and disrespectful gesture, or simply a costume?

Seatbelts

I have mixed feelings on seatbelts, they do save a lot of lives, but they can also be harmful. My sister was once in a car accident and was told that if she had been wearing her seatbelt it would have crushed her voicebox and left her unable to talk.

RON PAUL ALL THE WAY

I am not voting for Hilary or Barack, although if it had to be one, it would be Barack. Ron Paul is clearly the most trustworthy, appropriate candidate for the election.



RON PAUL!!!!!

Cell Phones

There is no way that cell phones are making our generation less social. How could anyone say that? If we are talking more and interacting more with people than how could anyone call us anti social? We are getting more and more social every day, the more you talk to people, the better you get at it, that is the only way to get better at talking to people. Being this social does effect our school work and whatever else we are involved in and they probably are diminishing our intelligence a little bit. I won't argue that people are reliant on their cell phones, because a lot of people completely obsessed with their cell phones but there is no way that it is making us anti social. It seems that every since cell phones blew up and every high school kid had to have one, it makes it a lot easier to keep in touch with your friends. Also, the advantage of being able to text people because alot of the time you don't want to talk that person so you just text them.

Cellular Devices

Yes I do think that our generation is dependent on cell phones.
Most teenagers have one and are on them all day long.
Either with texting or by talking teens constantly use their phones.
To me it started by my parents giving me a cell phone in the 8th grade.
Parents always want me to have my phone with me so they can call and know where I am.
So I kind of have to be dependent on my phone.
In case of a random parent check in or even in case of emergency.
I don't think that we have become antisocial because of cell phone.
I personally can hold a conversation with anyone of any age.
But I can type out a text message in like 5 seconds.
Multitalented?

I think so.

Cell Phone Responce

I think that there is some truth in saying, that our generation is truly based on texting each other and not having an actual conversation with the other person, but i don't think that it limits us socially. I was reading TIME magazine and it said something like 40% of people use texting to tell someone something that they would not normally say face-to-face.!? So is texting really limiting us, or allowing us to express an opinion/feeling to someone we would normally not?

seat belts do in fact save lives. i just got busted by by the 5-0 because i wasnt wearing my seat belt. yea i was pissed about it but if i had crashes or somebody hit me i could have gone splat. melanie says that we are done with the seat belt topic and is yelling at me so does anybody have any more fun news?

hilary

I think that Oprah had more of an influence on voters than 1%. Although, she may not have had as huge of an impact as people think, she did have a moderate impact on voters that were still on the borderline of choosing between Hilary and Obama and Oprah could have swayed the decision of those people to Obama. I would probably vote for Obama because he seems like a person that would help the common people more than Hilary.

HILIARY CLINTON

ONLY ONE PERCENT of Hiliary's supporters voted that Oprah helped Barack would influence them? Who would you choose...Hiliary or Barack?

Cell Phones

Ok, there has been alot going on via cell phones and usages from teenagers. I was talking to an older person who said that our generation is reliant on phones. The we can not have a conversation with someone because we dont know how to talk. They said cell phones are taking our social lifes. I don't really know if that is true, I mean we do talk on the phone alot by texting but I can totally have a conversation with someone older and keep a conversation. How do you guys feel about our generations being called anti social?

seat belts

People who do not wearing seat belts are just asking to get killed. I would anyday take a huge rash or a bruised chest over being dead. Seat belts save lives and the side effects of them are minor. I dont think they are that bothersome to the fact that it is worth risking your life over it. Just suck it up and wear a seat belt, they are not that that annoying.

HollyWeird

Does anyone know what is going on with the strikes in Hollywood??? Has anything changed or is there still a strike going on? It is really making me upset now! Does anyone watch any shows that have had no new episodes due to the strike?

Seat Belts

I totally agree... I mean seat belts save lives there is no questions. But there are always going to be some side effect of wearing a seat belt. Like back and neck problems. I rather have back and neck problems then be dead. I mean its like air bags.. Do air bags save lives?? Yes, they do have side effects to like a broken nose or something but what is worse being dead or having a broken nose. You choose.

one of my friends never wears a seatbelt and i mean truly never. since she has gone so long without wearing it, it feels weird to her when she has to. it makes me sooo mad. idk what the big deal is, i feel naked without it and it's not like your saving any great amounts of time by not putting it on either so time can't be your excuse. the seat belt is the same as any law that is trying to protect your life. what about the drinking age. although there are many arguements against it and it sucks...it was set in place becuase people didn't think younger people could handle it. if you are old enough to handle being a license driver i think you should also be mature enough to just think about the consequences.

The Nitti Beat's Post

Seatbelts save lives. What more can really be said? In all reality seat belts aren't the only thing that saves peoples lives in cars. Now a days cars have ABS, stability management controlers, air bags all around, all-wheel drive, and traction control. People take these for grantid, seeing as though they come as a standard on most cars. In the old days cars didn't have these and people knew how to drive the cars they bought. Now if they tried to drive the same cars they wouldn't be able to in poor weather. On Saturday night i was driving my monte carlo, which has no driving aides, and had experienced some thing i never have. As i was coming home from work it was raining and the rain was freezing as it hit the windshield. Which brings up another cool new frature Buick's have, Heated windshield wiper fluid sparyers.

seat belt law

I guess I would agree with Josh. "If u want to put your life at risk you should be able to." Stop a minute and think about what you just said. If you dont want to where a seat belt be my guest. Not wearing a seat belt puts your life at risk, and it's true that you dont fully understand the importance of a seatbelt until somebody you know was in an accident and the seat belt saved their life. I really dont think it is that hard to put on a seat belt before you start going somewhere so I dont see how there is any argument here.

seatbelts

the reason it to keep people alive. but what makes it so bad not to wear it some of the time when your going just a couple of blocks. the police give you a big ticket when you dont wear your seatbelt. i can see one reason.

there was one guy that took his little kid for a little ride around the neighborhood and once they left their house and went a couple of blocks and then this one guy diving drunk hit them and they both had died in the accident.

seatbelts

haha, see, my brother kinda classically conditioned me into wearing a seat belt. When we were younger, we would have competitions to see who could see their seatbelt on first. And if I lost my brother would hit me. Soo, it's somewhat of an unconscious thing for me now...

And I agree with everyone that said they make sure everyone they're driving is wearing their seatbelt. I will not put the car in reverse/drive unless I hear everyone's *clicks* and look to make sure they're fastened.

Shannon's Response

I definitely agree that the safety belt law is a helpful one. Seat belts are so easy to use and I don't understand why anyone wouldn't. Do you honestly feel the band on you? I mean once in awhile, maybe, but is it really worth your life? I also took drivers ed at Fremd, and those videos are pretty ridiculous. I can't even imagine not wearing mine, especially after seeing all of the worst case scenario videos, as well as all of the many stories you read about how the seat belt has saved so many lives. I think the law might be harsh, but I honestly don't know why anyone wouldn't wear something that could save your life.

some seatbelts

seatbelts are one of the greatest inventions.

They make sure you safe and in some cases save your life.

People who don't wear them are risking a lot.

especially with some of the crazy ass drivers out there.

I always wear my seatbelt and make sure everyone in my car is wearing one too.

Because you never know what could happen on the road.

Also...

One time I was in the car with my mom and she was driving and not wearing a seatbelt.

Her and I got into a car accident and my mom went forward and hit her arm on the rear view mirror.

She had to go to the emergency room and get stitches because her arm was badly cut open.

Things like accidents scare me.

So wearing a seatbelt is smart.

seatbelts continued...

I always wear my seat belt and personally i don't understand why someone wouldn't. They take two seconds to put on and save your life. Some people complain about them being uncomfortable but honestly i can't even notice them. I took drivers ed at school and Mr. Balk did a fabulous job of scaring the shit out of me with those drivers ed videos. I also encourage people in my car to please wear their seatbelt because i don't want my friends to die and because i don't want their skull colliding with mine.

WEAR YOUR SEATBELT PPL!

seatbelts

I think that the law is good. seatbelts save so many peoples lives, and even though you say they may be stupid you won't think that if you or somebody you know get in a bad car accident and seatbelts save their lives, like a lot of people have given examples of. I am always sure to have my seatbelt on and i always yell at my boyfriend for not having his on, because even if you think ur the best driver ever and you'll never get in an accident there are so many other idiots out on the road who can hit your car and injure you. safety first!

seatbelts

I think having to wear a seat belt is a great law. At first, I thought it was silly, but until someone you know gets into a car accident, you don't think to much about it. People may view it as a silly law, but it does save lives. Over the summer, a couple people that go to our school got into a car accident and the car was totaled and while they got hurt, they still have their lives because they wore their seatbelt. One of these people used to go off to lunch with me and whenever I don't feel like putting on my seatbelt because there are too many people in the car and would be a hassle for me, I see my friend that got hurt in the accident and I put on my seatbelt.

yeah.. i agree. my cousin was hit sideways when he was driving a camry and the other car was an escalade. the lady didnt even bother to brake. the complete left side of the car was totaled. the police told my cousin if he wasnt wearing his seatbelt, he would have been thrown out of the car.
im so thankful he was. i agree, seatbelts are a must when getting in a car. its like a reflex to me now. i definitely dont take the seatbelt for granted..

this is where i draw the line

Two of my very bedt friends where in Mexico this past summer visiting family. They where at a stop light when a guy came up behind them, going 50, and ramed them in the back where my two friends where. Ever since then they have had back problems and headache problems as well. the doctors and the police clearly told them that if they had not been wearing their seatbelts, they would have been DEAD. ..... unless you have had someone close to you experience almost die but saved by a seatbelt... don't question the law... because it may question your life.

Seat Belts

I agree with the fact that it is silly to have to wear a seat belt, even though I always wear one. I think it is more to cover other people insurance wise and to just keep life going. It really isn't that big of a deal to have to put it on, so I don't understand why some people make such a big deal out of it?

Christmas

I agree, we have kinda of taken the point of Christmas and changed it. we forgot the true meaning of what Christmas was about. we just see it as a time to get free stuff. now I'm in no way really religious. But i know that the meaning of Christmas was not to get free stuff from people.


but on another note who think the seat belt law is really stupid. i think that if you want to put your life at risk then you should be able to.

Christmas

Another sad thing about the true meaning of Christmas being lost is this;
My mom was on a phone call at work (she does reservations for united airlines) and someone was spelling something out to her and goes "X as in Christmas" my mom was shocked. Not only have people taken christ out of the picture, some of them have taken it out of the actual word. Now, I'm not anywhere near religious, and I'm not even sure I believe in Jesus, but I still find that a little messed up.

Christmas

I definately think that Christmas has lost all of its meaning. I was never a huge Christmas fan being that we spend it away from the rest of our family at our condo in Florida. I usually celebrate christmas with my whole family weeks earlier (were actually doing it this weekend), and now the holiday is getting even more pointless. Christmas should be about spending time with family and going to church, and not about your new 300 dollar ipod your getting or your new 150 dollar ugg boots(and i'm not judging, because thats definately me). I think one main reason we forget about the true meaning of christmas is because of the stores and all the marketing around the holidays. Every commercial on tv around this time is about great deals you can get for those expensive presents for your children. Yesterday in my english class we were looking at this cartoon and it was about how christmas is taking over thanksgiving, but everything that represented christmas was just a fancy tree with lights, presents, and santa claus. There was absolutely nothing religious representing christmas on the photo. At the rate everything is going, I really do think that sooner or later everybody will start to celebrate christmas, and the religious meaning behind it will completely be lost.

UGH!

I hate the thought of Santa. I do not see why it is so important to some people to keep the magic of this lie going? MELANIE you said

i think a 5 year old would rather hear about how Santa is bringing them a present because they have been good this year rather than being preached about the birth of Jesus.

And I agree with you, to a certain degree. The Bible says:

Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. (John 8:32)

Because at the end of the day all people are doing is lying to their children. I hate the fact that someone else is giving presents, someone that doesn't exist. Don't preach to the children then! a 5 year old does not need to be preached to, but a 5 year old does not need to be lied to.

IF ANY1 CAN ANSWER THIS QUESTION PLEASE DO
Why should I tell my children about Santa?

And the whole us changing not the holiday changing deal. It is the same thing! We change the Holiday. It cannot change by itself. The fact is that most people get together for the holidays, it may be great for a day, but then they 4get about it all the next day. (that's how i feel @ least) How can anyone celebrate the life of Christ and then less than two weeks later get drunk @ some Christmas party. The Bible talks about drinking and how being intoxicated is a sin but the act of drinking is not. I don't know... am I alone on this one too?

christmas

I think the real question is:
Did the holidays really change, or are we the ones that changed?

Think about it, of course Christmas is going to look different, we're seventeen/eighteen years old, not a toy-crazed 5 year old hoping that this will be the year we'll catch Santa coming down the chimney. Now we've become aware of the jaded people just wanting to buy the presents, it's a change of perspective, and that's something that's inevitable with growing up.

So really, I don't think the holidays have changed that much, I think it's mainly us that have.

Except for the whole "Santa needs to lose weight and stop saying 'hohoho'" I think that's an example of the holiday changing, and that's just something that came up this year.

Christmas

Yeah

it sucks.

I'm beginning to hate this holiday.

The true meaning is completely lost.

It turned into who can give the better more expensive gifts.

Christmas isn't about gifts.

It's sad that people really strive to glorify Christmas for all the wrong reasons.

Christmas

I disagree and agree with everyone. For one it is so annoying when people just shorten it to xmas.But i totally disagree with that fact that Christmas has been totally lost. Christmas is always really great for me because i always get to see my family and i love spending time with my whole family, one thing for me that brings it alive is all my little cousins. They sprinkle the reindeer food out of the driveway and their alwasy watching that santa tracker, i love seeing them SO excited over something that really isnt real, and thats when i think the charm of Christmas is somewhat gone. But on the other hand, it almost seems like a job for some people. I work in the mall and you see all the crabby customers who just want to get in and out, and thats not what Christmas is soppost to be about. I 100% digagree that Christmas is just a hallmark holiday, because their is a meaning behind the Christmas Holiday.

i disagree with EVERYONE..... i don't think Christmas has lost its meaning. Yes, i agree that some have taken the buying gifts part alittle out of porportion, but I am talking about when the whole family is coming together, no matter what religon you are. This day is when all(most) religons celebrate giving and faith. Let's not focus on what is bad about the holiday rather than what we need to celebrate. I don't understand why santa is a terrible person in some religons. No matter how religious you are, i think a 5 year old would rather hear about how Santa is bringing them a present because they have been good this year rather than being preached about the birth of Jesus. So when christmas comes, look around you and see how much the world celebrates whether it be Christmas, Hanukkah,Kwanzaa, or other anything else. Deep in our hearts everyone knows why we celebrate.

Christmas is lost in the blizzard

Christmas has always been a time of cheer and good faith, it has always been a time for giving and receiving gifts along with smiles. But what happens when the true value is lost, what happens when the lord is replaced with gift wrapping, fancy lighting, and a fat old man who breaks and enters?

I have always said that I am never going to tell my children about Santa. Why should I? Ask and small child what Christmas is about and I bet 99 out of 100 would say something along the lines of Santa or presents. It is completely ridiculous what has happened to this celebration of life. People say how can you take away the magic for those kids, MAGIC??? what magic?! How about the fact that God sent his one and only son to save of from an afterlife of total damnation? There is nothing magic about the season besides the fact that every single persons "CHEER" seems to magically fade away between Christmas and their intoxicated New Years party.

I was at Caribou Coffee the other day and there was a 10 cent discount for anyone who could answer:

"Who was the first person to start giving presents during the holidays?"

Instinctively I thought Saint Nick, you know the whole Santa thing. But before I answered I took a deeper look. I said, "The Three wise men." The cashier told me I was wrong and so for about 5 minutes I battled it out with her before ultimately loosing, but the fact still remains people don't even care about Jesus anymore.

At the end of the day, Christmas has become just another Hallmark gift giving, make you feel good for a day holiday. We are here to serve God, and so far, this so called 'modern world' has turned there back from the only thing that can save us.



Depart, depart, go out from there! Touch no unclean thing! Come out from it and be pure, you who carry the vessels of the Lord. But you will not leave in haste or go in flight; for the Lord will go before you, the God of Israel will be your rear guard.
Isaiah 52:11-12

God is guarding you!

X-MAS

I heard a comedian telling a joke about X-MAS one time. He said he hated to write it like that because you are Xing out the lords name. and ever since then it has stuck with me, I think that is a horrible way to say Christmas, is everyone in too much of a hurry to say Christmas?

Knock Knock.........

christmas

I agree that the tradition of Christmas has been lost. Today, Christmas is more about receiving than giving and is all about people selling things. I'm like many people and I think more about the presents and what I am getting instead of the tradition part of Christmas of giving and spending some time with your family. It's not really a surprise that the meaning of Christmas is lost to most people, since many holidays have lost their meaning too and have turned into buying, buying, and buying.

meaning of christmas

i totally agree with ryan. for one of my college essays i actually wrote about how the meaning of christmas has completlely been lost and its become a real problem. even if you aren't religious, it still has a deep mean if you choose for it to be that way. i work at the mall so i see crazy shoppers who get caught up in the rush and get angry and irriated at little things. presents are fun and all but for as long as i can remember, i've spent more time around the christmas season buying toys and stuff for underprivledged children than i have buying stuff for my family. this year the only thing i'm excited for is seeing my brother come home who i haven't seen since last christmas.

The Nitti Beat's Post

In my family christmas has always gone something like this, Christmas tree put up 2 or 3 weeks before Thnaksgiving, next weekend is x-mas lights, day after thanksgiving x-mas lights go on with christmas music (my dads rule), family christmas party, family buisiness christmas party, and finally christmas eve open 1 present each (Grandfather's B-day); on christmas day open rest of presents(cousins B-day). Its not until 1 week after new years that we take down our tree. I know all of this may sound crazy, but thats the way its been as long as I remember. Also my mom will buy any thing christmas or winter related to put up in our house. So, to me, unlike ryan, my christmas has always meant being with family and the x-mas tree must look good to have a good x-mas. However i do know the real meaning and i'am catholic, but some how every body, me included, seems to forget and just want presents, but i don't blame us.

Holidays

this x-mas holiday is about being together with family. well that does happen but the name Santa Clause does not mean the same anymore. people market the name. they say in the spirit of Christmas buy this stuff. Coca cola has put Santas face on their cans and sell them.
where has the spirit of x-mass go?
where is it that we need a christmas tree? there where no christmas tree when saint nick was around giving poor kids nice toys.
what happened to christmas?

i agree that the new law that's out sucks. but the one thing is that if you 17 and have your licence it won't mater if the law was 1 year or not. once your 18 you can drive as maney people as you want. I do hate the new curfew law though that is out. so there is nothing we can do about it.

Shannon's Response

Did those laws for sure pass? ... because I think that's ridiculous. My birthday is in May, so I won't turn 18 until after January. If I have to go back to having a curfew, that's definitely not fair. I understand the laws will be set in place for safety and all of that, but the curfew laws are a little ridiculous. My parents don't give me a curfew, and the fact that the law is trying to does not make me very happy.

Jamie's post

What do you all think about the new driving laws? That starting on January 1st, 16-17 years old have driving curfews and aren't allowed driving past 10pm weekdays, 11pm on Saturdays. And that now you need to wait a full year after you get your license to have more than 1 driver in your car.

aw! i feel so bad that he had to go through this.. he was such a cute little boy. i agree with his mom, the little boy or his mom never did anything to harm anybody.. that just breaks my heart.. i'm glad that our technology is advanced so there is hope for him and his family.

Bailey's Response

I agree with Shannon; this story made me want to cry...but knowing that the doctor(s)are going to make his face as close to what it used to look like as possible, made me hopeful for a better life for him in the future. I hope this little boy finally gets the face he deserves and can live a happy and healthy life.

Shannon's Response to Youssif

Oh my goodness, I just watched that video, as well as read and watched every other video about him on that site. I can not believe anyone would light a five year old boy on fire. I can not even begin to imagine the difficulty this must be for him to understand, as well as for his family to cope with this. I saw his before and after pictures and they seriously made me want to cry, he was such a cute little boy. I hope his surgery can do wonders for him, I can't imagine the amount of ridicule he will get otherwise. I think it's amazing that they are doing everything they can for him, because people are harsh and he's already had to experience that at much too young of an age. He's already encountered a child crying after seeing his face, and he's gone through so much he doesn't need people staring at him on top of it.I wish him the best of luck and strongly encourage all of you to read about his story.

Oprah

I think Oprah could definately help Obama. There are so many people that are crazy obsessed with her and will probably do anything she says. Oprah has a lot of fans that respect her decisions and I think many people will agree with her and will probably look at Obama more because Oprah is talking about him. Oprah has a huge fan base and will espsecially help Obama here in Chicago, and probably nationally also.

HOLY CRAP!!!!

A young boy named Youssif was horribly disfigured in a fire. He has burns covering a large portion of his face, and he honestly looks terrible. He recently got a surgery that is going to take away all of the scarring on him face. Look at this boys story...

http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/11/29/youssif.surgery/index.html

janny's post

i think that oprah will help obama. they're both 2 famous and respected people right now and with oprah by him, i think that will sway some people towards obama who were maybe on the borderline between people. politics is not my thing but eh.. i think oprah's just jumping on his bandwagon to make her seem like a good person.

oprah

I think oprah will effect the voting because she is huge, a ton of people respect her and watch her show so this will help him out a great deal. I like Oprah but sometimes i think she is just very giving because she wants to be known for being very generous. I do think she really cares though about others, shes does not seem like one of those snob celebrities. But he is lucky to have her on his side because she will make a impact on his votes.

ryans post

What is up with people talking about opra. she is nothing realy special. she is just like any other person in the world. it is just she has a show and lots of money and fame. they would say that she is the most powerful person in the U.S. that she is more honored and cared about more than actors, actresses, and former presidents combined. i don't see what is so great about her. she a person that does things on tv. plus i dont whtch opra.

bobbo's post

I think Oprah will affect Borack's campaign because everyone loves Oprah. She will say that she liked a book she read and it will jump to the top of the best sellers list. This will help his campaign a great deal

oprah continued

oprah...i'm not quite sure what to think. i do have respect for her because she started so low and has built up her career so high. i would like to meet her and see if she really is as a loving and thoughtful person as she comes off to be. it's hard to say if she is helping people just for the money or because she really does find joy in it. if she has been doing it for this long, she probably does really enjoy it, however, just like in our buyer and seller game, money brings out the worst in people. people will do anything for money

i dont like oprah

I know it has been quite a while since I posted on this thing but I agree with Mikey and Keith. Oprah appears to be this perfect person who is helping all these people but the truth is...nobody is that good. All anyone ever sees is Oprah on camera helping people and solving people's problems but who knows what she is like off camera. The more people she helps the more money she gets. Oprah sucks. I have no more time it the end of the period i gotta go bye.

koenos response

I dont know what it is, but i have a serious problem with oprah. She bothers me mainly because she trys to make everyone think of her as someone who is out to help everyone and is so humble and caring. In reality I think oprah is doing it all for herself. She has so much money that in using it to help other poeple, she is doing it to make herself look good and make everyone think she is very helping but shes not. Shes a fake person with a lot of money that can use her money to make herself look better to everyone else. oprah is a joke.

More Oprah

I agree with heather.... Oprah does try very hard to get recognized by the media. I mean it is still good what she does like when she made that school for the girls in Africa..... but you can only take so much of her. And on top of it all Tyra is becoming the next oprah. i see a battle in the near fututre against the two talk show hosts..........

The Nitti Beat's Post

Oprah will not make a difference. Obama nor Hillary will win. They are the worst presidential canadates since Al Gore. The clear choice is going to Guliani. He cleaned up New York City and handeled the 9\11 situation better than even the president. Hillary just has a name that makes her well known and Obama is the new guy that everybody thinks will be the next best choice. In reallity the truth of the matter is, is that Hillary is to worried about her self and Obama doesn't know enough to become a president. Clearly the real choice for president is the going to be the one who Chicago Mayor Daley is endorsing, Rudy Guliani.

Teacher Arrested

I cant believe that would happen to someone who one, is not even from the country and two who never would try and do something offencive... It just doesnt seem right I mean GET REAL! That has to be the stupidest rule ever not being aloud to say something agienst their culture... Even when you dont mean to. I feel so bad for her she doesnt deserve that!

oprah..

she seriously tries to hard to make people LOVE her.

I know she likes to do good for others, but seriously sometimes I question if it's from the heart or if it's just to make her more known and because she's on television.

So I'm really not surprised.

Oprah

OK so I agree with Carrie about the Oprah and Obama thing, But I dont really agree with the people do good things because they want to... I know for a fact that not everyone does good things just to make them feel good. I think that some people do things because they like the attention and it makes them feel good to get that attention... I know alot of the big stars are like that so you cant really make the assumption that people just do it because it makes them feel good. It might be true for you and others but not EVERYONE does it.

woah there...

A British teacher arrested in Sudan after allowing her class to name a teddy bear "Mohammed" has been charged by authorities with offending religion, British officials say.

Gibbons had asked the children to pick their favorite name for the new class mascot, which she was using to aid lessons about animals and their habitats.
Classmates took turns taking the teddy bear home with them, accompanied by a diary with the bear's name written in the front of it, said Boulos, who heads the private school, which has been shut down since the controversy came to light.


I don't think this is offensive. It's just a name. I don't think the teacher should be punished because I really don't think she intended it to be offensive.

Oprah

I think that because Oprah supported Obama many of her viewers will probably vote for Obama even if they were initially going to vote for Hilary. I don't really know much about Oprah but I do know that she gave away cars once and many people are basically in love with her and would probably base their vote on what she said.

i agree that oprah will influence his campaign a ton there's no doubt about that. she's such an influenctial person that a lot of women look up to. i think that if she is supporting obama a lot of other women who might otherwise support hilary will lean more towards obama. and in response to keith's response, you can't really hold the fact that somebody does a lot of charity work against them becuase there are no selfless good deeds. everything that we do that is good is to make us feel better. and who doesn't want to be seen as an awesomely giving person. (there's a friends episoid about it if you don't believe me.)

Oprah is for Obama

I agree with keith. I know that Oprah was interviewed on Larry King's show but I don't know if she ever mentioned politics and Obama on her show. If she did, she would definitely have an influence on other people. She has millions of fans and many people watch her show. She is known for doing good things and giving good advice. If she ever told her viewers to vote for Obama, they probably would. Oprah says Barack is a very good friend of hers and that is why she is supporting him but maybe she is doing it for the money too.

OPRAH

I have such mixed feelings when it comes to Oprah. She helps so many people but I always feel like she does it only because it makes her feel good or she wants to be seen as good. Do you know what i mean? It may just seem that way to me because I never really know why she does what she does. I guess I could never really get over how annoying her voice is, I can't stand it. I feel bad for saying it, but it turns my insides to liquid when she does that whole drag out a word and put odd emphasis on parts of it. I don't know. But I think she will influence his campaign in a HUGE way! People would follow Oprah to the grave, and that scares me. I am concerned on where this election is going. The only person I even think would do a good job is Ron Paul but no one seems to know about him. It is so odd. Anyways I think Oprah is going to change Barack's support X100.

NEW QUESTION

Do you guys think Oprah backing up Barack's campaign will make an extreme different?

mandies post =]

kieth
let me just tell you that i know you are really upset about this but just reading your last little post i felt very inspired by it. not many people would have the balls to stand up and lay their heart on the line like that. regardless of if she takes into consideration what you said you did something about it and that is so important. sitting back and doing nothing is allowing yourself to get walked all over. i know youre concerned she only sees you fighting and not what youre fighting for but others see both. we see you fighting and maybe we are inspired to do the same, we see what youre fighting for and maybe we want to help. taking the courage as an individual influences many, you might be doing more than you think. anyways, im so happy you stood up for what you believe in, if more people were like that far less of them would get taken advantage of and maybe we might start to see some kind of change..for the better.

More swimming DRAMA

Jamie:
I was very rude with her and extremely blunt. She left me no other choice. It was either cross the line of respect or not be heard. And now she is not even listening to me so it was all in vein. (is that the right spelling for vein... I'm not sure, I don't care) The point was I was upset and you would not do you job and coach me, now she only sees how I was fighting, not what I was fighting for. I am so upset about this whole thing.

jamie's response

In response to Keith's post:
I completely agree with you, and I think you had every right. I don't know what you exactly said, and my opinion might change based on that, but I think she deserved it totally. It sounds like you guys got ripped off the past 3 years, and she could've at least been kind enough to try and let you guys be apart of it, it seems ridiculous how rude she's been... GOOD JOB FOR STICKING UP FOR YOURSELF!!

I agree with you keith. Respect isnt something that just comes, as much as some people like to believe that. Respect has to be earned. Whats goin on with the 2 teams is deffinetly bullshit. i think you should take a higher action about this. I'm not really sure what that would be haha but ill trying to think of one for you.

I have an unfair story

I have been on Fremd's Swimming and Diving team for three years now, this year would have been the forth. Ever since I became a diver, the swim coach has not liked us very much. From Reef's personal vendetta to Battles recklessness for the whole sport, divers have always gotten the shaft. It is difficult to be part of a 'family' when there are two totally different sports. Coach Labeau has always said that we are one team with one honor and a bunch of things along that line, and then turns around and screws over the divers. We are one team, so the divers can not make diving T-shirts it would separate you too much from the rest of the team, but it is mandatory for all varsity swimmers to swim during morning practices or you miss meets, but it doesn't matter if divers don't come. No one cares about us, and this year I had enough.

So the first day of the year Ms. Labeau did not even tell the divers we had a morning practice. 1st day of the season and she doesn't care about the divers. So I tried to confront her about the situation. She blew right past me and didn't even give a damn. That pissed me off so much. So i sat there for a minute getting more enraged. I stormed to her 1st period class to tell her how i felt. She told me she didn't have 30 seconds to talk to me about the sport she coaches. I lost it. I started screaming and yelling at her, using some not so "appropriate" words, but totally just in my actions. I may have crossed the line a little bit, well I did cross it, by fare. But now she has kicked me off of the team because of the outburst. I wanted to dive more, she did not let me, I got upset, she kicked me off of the team. I was very disrespectful to her, but she also disrespected me. Now the whole situation is viewed as how I was disrespectful to her and now how she was to me. People say I can't say things like that to her because:

She is:
A women
Older
A teacher
A coach

Well that is just bullshit! She is given a certain amount of respect because she has been given those titles, but as soon as she crosses the line and begins to disrespect me, all respect for her is lost. Hitler was an older man, Gandhi was an older man. Respect is not a right, it is something you earn. She earned my respect when she gained those titles, but she lost it when she lied. I do not respect her because she shows no respect towards me. Is that not a fair conclusion? Does it not make sense that when someone tells 90 kids one thing and then turns around and does the complete opposite and continues to tell those children that she is correct, that the one she is screwing over, and being lied to, would not get upset.

I'm sorry it was so long you guys. You did not have to read this if you did not want to, so sorry. I just think it is unfair and she has no rights to do what she did, this is the short version of the story, I know crazy but it is.

Let me know your thoughts on this whole situation.

GAS $

I think it is totally fair to ask your friend for gas money. The main thing is to ask them nicely. Make sure you do not demand it... and if they say no tell them I'm sorry but I can't afford to drive you everyday then. It is not fair to you to have to pay everyday to drive, pay for the parking pass, and wake up like 5 minutes earlier to pick them up, and then have them say no when you ask him/her for gas money. It's just not fair.

Your Future

Do people seem to be asking you a lot lately about where you want to go to college and what you want to do or study? Because they have been for me and I feel like i tell everyone the same answer and that is..I don't really know yet. Its stressful applying to schools and trying to figure out what I want to study in college. Its A decision that will direct my future and it seems like a hard decision to make for me right now. Do these decisions bother you? What are your thoughts on your future and what do you think you'd like to do with your life?

Mike's Response

I definitely think it is an ok thing to do to ask a friend for gas money, especially if you drive them to school everyday. You obviously haven't had to ask them for any gas money before and its already been like the 3rd month of you driving and spending YOUR money on the gas. I would just ask them nicely and tell them that you are low on money and could you please help me this once for driving you all year. Im sure it will be no problem at all.

Random Question.......

Is it worng to ask a good friend for gas money if you drive them to school everyday? I drive my friend everyday and she has never offered to pay..... i'm runnig low on money and i'm afraid to ask ....... sorry this is so random but i have been pondering this predicament for a while now... what should i do!?!?!

thanksgiving

I think some people mostly look forward to thanksgiving for the sales the next day…but I still believe that most people(including myself), at least once during their thanksgiving dinner, look around at their family/friends sitting around the table and feel thankful to have them.

ryans post

the only two ways that i can see this ending is when humanity is finaly dead. it is because of man kind that the world is like this. now we try to controle the weather and it does not matter. it will go somewhere and kill someone or distroy something.
the other thing i can see is that humanity does not do anything. we go back a few stages (lower tech) and let nature do what it does. that we stop all wars. we come to an understanding. that we need to do things to survive. if we dont i can see the outcome from the movie day after tomarrow will come. and then man kind will be screwed. we wont see it comming at all.

The Nitti Beat's Post

In response to mandy's post, if you ever watch the history channel the earth goes in cycles. Currenly we are in the cycle were the earth will heat up, yes we are helping but it was going to happen any way. Me personally, i think that all the homes in malibu that are being incinerated is kind of funny, but what it really means is know the insurance rates will go up because the insurance company will have a huge loss. I also don't really care about the global warming because "experts" say it is going to ruin our breathing air and cars are the major problem. I say thats bull #%@*, because the EPA has made the air clean enough that there are no more smog days in chicago. I also would like to add that i drive a 8 mpg truck that spits raw gas out of the tail pipe and a 10 mpg monte carlo that will blow the doors off a viper(When i'm done with the engine rebuild.) So who really cares, just have fun you only live once!!!!

thanksgiving

I am mostly thankful for my fam just like everyone and that my parents are not divorced and my family gets along. Thanksgiving is has always been one of my favorite holidays..not so much now seening how i work in the mall and black friday succccks major. But i always use to love going to my grandparents then getting up real early to go shopping...not so much for the sales liek most people do, but just because it's fun. The best thing about thanksgiving is knowing xmas is that much closer : )

new topic maybe??

alright so everyone probably knows about all the wildfires in cali, but i was just thinking about how in the past few years the natural disasters seem to be at such a high. hurricane katrina, the tsunami, global warming and combined with the war it makes me feel like the world is such a scary place. i cant help but think as we kill the earth, and eachother and it kills us...when is the end? i dont know, i watched that movie the day after tomorrow and now im freaked out, what do you think?

Scotty B's post

What am I thankful for? well nothing original here.. family of course. For me, and probably most, thanksgiving is a day to relax and eat and watch football with extended family that you might not see that often, which is always nice. hope everyone had a good one.

mandies post =]

although i like just about everyone else am thankful for my family, i am incredibly thankful for my friends. i have a group of people i am so lucky to call my best friends and that mean the world to me. especially in this last week which has been full of personal and family hardships, ive never felt so blessed to be surrounded by those who truly have my back and make me feel so happy when otherwise i would not. i am thanful to have all the basic necessities plus the extra things we all seem to take for granted everyday.

The Nitti Beat's Post

I'm thankfull for the food. Thanksgiving, for me, is a late birthday present from my mom. Every year she makes me sweet patato caserol. More importantly the family is all around and after dinner we always go do some thing together. in some ways i wish it was more often but i'm glad that it isn't because everbody would be a 1000 pounds. on a different note while i am writing this i am watching the 8A football championship at the half the score is 21-0 naperville north. anyway happy turkey day and see you guys on monday.

thanksgiving

I'm thankful for my family and yeah I know this is like the generic answer to the question, "What are you thankful for?" Also, pretty thankful that I have food to eat basically whenever I want it unlike people in other parts of the world. But on a lighter note, my Thanksgiving was pretty good and bought a couple stuff on black friday even though it was crazy. Anyways, did anyone wait in line for hours to be the first ones in the store. I would probably never do that just because its too cold and I don't feel like standing around for hours.

thanksgivin'

Yeah, I agree with Ryan. My family use to go around and say what we're thankful for before dinner, but in the recent years that seems to have disappeared. I'm thankful for everything, that my loved ones are in good health, that I'm alive, and that I have thumbs. It's something people never think about, but I am so thankful that I have thumbs, just tape them down on your palm someday and see. After about 30 minutes you'll be glad you have functioning thumbs...
Be thankful of the small things, because they may be small, but you'll never know how much you appreciate them until they get taken away.

thanksgiving

I agree with Ryan. Some people nowadays don't even know why we celebrate Thanksgiving. However, a big part of Thanksgiving is the feast. Sometimes I wonder how traditions have lasted so long. It is crazy how many people celebrate it now. Anyways my Thanksgiving was great! How was yours?!

thanks giving?

On this wonderful day of feast and festivities people forget what it is all about. All we see is the feast in front of us and the people arond us. we see nothing elts but the turkey and stuffing. we eat untill were plump and ready to pop. but one thing always bugs me. why is it that people only see that and not what it is about. we become blind in the times. people have forgoten the troditions of what it is realy about. the stores see it as a great thing. they can sell thing the next day on early bird specials so people would rush over there and buy things. me on past thanks givins i try to remember what this feast is all about, while im stuffing my face of tukey and stuffing. then i think what is america coming to. we see it as a get-to-gether and a big meal. we dont see what it's all about.
whats it all about you may ask. well that's simple. it is about being thankful for all the things that had happened to you over the year. a time to reflect on the things people have donefor you and for what you have recieved. me personaly, im thankful for all the things i have. im thankful for my family and friends that i can spend my waking mooments with. im thakful for all the gifts that i had gotten ove the year. but most of all im thankful that im alive.
here is the question for you.
What are YOU THANKFUL FOR?

everything offends somebody in some way, so if it offerends one person i would say just dont do that around them. i dont think someone should be offened by something, unless it directly at you, and if it is then tell them to stop. But if it is like in Ryan's case that one person is offerended take it in to consideration and just dont do it around them.

I agree with danae, you should do whatever makes you happy.... unless it is hurting the person physically.... then maybe not such a good idea. We may say or do things that will offend people that we do not agree with and even though we won't want to stop.... sometimes we need to respect people. A great example was last year when a senior made a speech at writer's week on how he hates it when people use the word retarted because his little sister has a learning disability. My point is that, yes we should express ourselves the way we feel about certain things, but at the same time we need to moniter who is around us and watch what we say or do. You never know who may be hurt by your actions.

I think that if you have a passion for something go for it. Many people have many views on things. What you do is what you want. Don't let anyone else decided what you can do. Sure not everyone will agree with what you are doing and thats ok they can do that, but you don't have to change who you are or anything like that. Alot of people do it to get attention because they have nothing else to do. So just do what you love to do.... Thats what I would do.

well for me, i think it would have to depend on the situation. but really, if they dont like it, or it offends them, just dont look at it. people should mind their own business and not stick their noses where it doesnt belong. why would you change yourself just to please other people? thats never good =[

offended

Why are people always offended when they see something they dont like. I had always drawn things on the chalk board in math class and no one cared untill one person felt offended about my logo and art name. once that happened everyone had started saying things like i dont like it. this is Satanist. I had thought it was the 8th period class that was offended about my work but they like it. It is only my class that hates it.
Here is the question. have you ever had someone feel offended about what you do that you have to change it, or you ignore them and do continue it anyway

santa

first the thing about bird poop and now this? Seriously, isn't there more important things the government could be doing? I mean "ho ho ho," thats been tradition. I think its retarded to make people say ha ha ha instead of ho ho ho. If people want to say ha ha ha, they can, but I think it's a waste of time, money, and effort by the government to enforce the people that dress in santa costumes to say ha ha ha instead of the tradition ho ho ho.

Santa's Bad day

Well, it's totally rediculous that we have to change what Santa's pharse to something stupid. It was reported to offend some... I think it offended some of the um... people of unmentionable proffesions. You know that a lot of people will raise up against this and I want to know how exactly they plan to enforce this. Are they going to have a guade around the Santa 24/7, making sure that not one single "Ho ho ho" is said? It seems that the powers at be are getting alittle too politically correct for their own good.

Caitlyn's post

wow, that pretty ridiculous that thye would want to change something that has been around for so long. It's not offenesive unless you make it offensive like alot of other words. It's stupid to change something that everybody grew up with and in most cases loves. Santa is apart of our culture and its hard to beleive that somebody everybody know so well has to bee changed. I've never heard any girl saying that "ho, ho, ho" is offensive and if they did i would be pretty surprised. Changing a tradition would be so stupid to do at this point in time. It's seems like everything we know and love is changing due to ridiculous rules.

Santa

I agree with Jamie. Santa has been saying ho ho ho since the beginning of time. It's a tradition. Plus if you look up "ho" in the dictionary it says "used as an exclamation of surprise or delight". So I don;t see how that is offensive? it's not the same meaning. its called a homonym. But the thing that bothers me is the parents who tell their children there's no such thing as Santa. Like seriously, why would you even do that? Let your children have an imagination. It's a good thing. I believed in Santa until I was 12 years old... No joke.

santa

Oh my gosh. I think it is RIDICULOUS about all this new santa stuff. I don't know which women are offended by the "ho ho ho" but if I ever meet them I'll give them SOMETHING to feel offended by... I also heard about how they're gonna make Santa slim down, because the real/NORMAL Santa isn't a healthy role model for children...
I think this world has become waaaay too policitally correct and always trying to please everyone, sometimes people just gotta suck it up, especially if their issue is a heavy set Santa saying "Ho Ho Ho"
And just think, by them slimming down Santa, that's not teaching kids that it's good to be healthy, that's just gonna teach kids that being big is something wrong and looked down upon. SANTA is just about the only positive person that's not frowned upon for being heavy....

Wow, sorry, this just realllly ticks me off, the children being born now are basically screwed, and I feel really bad for them that they'll never know "the good old days"

I really want to find a way to fight against this new Santa stuff, because I think it's just ridiculous...

Santa cause

Ok so did anyone hear on the news what they are trying to do to the Santas? They want to get rid of the ho ho ho's and put in ha ha ha's or something in! I think that is so stupid! They say it is because the ho ho ho's are offencive to some women. I think that is so rediculous! I mean why on earth would you take out a tradition that has been around FOREVER! Just because our society is changing into something not good! I AM SO MAD!

i agree with everybody. and i think our society is especially vulnerable to it because we have that "it cant happen to me" attitude. i think honestly, the best thing we can do right now is be careful to not get inflected. its the least we can do, dont be a statistic of the aids population.

Aids

Part of me wants to believe that there will be a cure for aids, but it is definitely a stretch... and i would like to point out that it is not just transmitted sexually, but can be inherited through a parent or through blood. It's not a disease you can completely avoid...

aids

I am not quite sure if they will find a cure for aids. I agree with what Keith says and how it mutates so much that it seems impossible to find a cure. If they do find a cure for aids, of course that would be amazing, however, I just don't see it happening anytime soon. If they have yet to find a cure for cancer, I just don't see a cure for aids happening.

aids

I really don't think humans will ever create a cure for aids. It is a horrible disease that seems to be a lot smarter than we are. It mutants so often that it is seemingly impossible to destroy. After a while i think it will kill itself off. No one else seems to agree with me, but if it mutates so often doesn't it make sense that sooner or later it will just mutate too much? Eventually everyone who has AIDS will be sterile and unable to reproduce, then what will it do, become an air born virus? It may last another million years, but I think it will kill itself off.

AIDS

A part of me thinks that they will find a cure for AIDS, but the thing of it is, is that I think if they do find a cure, they won't tell the world about it... Look at cancer and diabetes too. Soo much money is put into it to find a cure, and yeah, they probably will come up with it, but think of how much money would be lost if they did find a cure. It costs people so much money for cancer treatments and diabetes testing supplies. It's sort of like what we're learning right now with the economics, they could choose to tell us the cure but the opportunity cost thing would be loosing all the money we'd spend on treatments.
Kind of a pessimistic way to view the world...but I think that's exactly what they'd do.

AIDS Epidemic

I feel the same way as Mandie does. things are so awful in other places and you feel like you should be doing more but what can be done. with the AIDS epidemic, i feel like its gotten completely out of hand and uncontrolable. in the US it's easier to say that people should get tested for HIV or AIDS and just promote the education of it to people, but in places like Africa where they have less money and resources, i don't know how easy it is for them to just go get tested. With all the money and donations that is collected every year by charities and organizations, i find it hard to believe that people can't find solutions to diseases like AIDS and cancer. i think it's scary to know that maybe some of the most serious things in the world can't just be solved by money. espeically in the society that we live in where people think that money can solve all the problems.

I dont think aids/hiv can be stopped. It is a retrovirus, and it mutates all the time, that is why they dont have a vaccine for it. They have things to stop the process of the virus turning the rna to your dna but that just prolongs it. The only way people can not get it is to start being careful who you go and sleep with....

new topic

so today at church we talked about the aids pandemic in africa, they showed all these statistics about how all the people killed in all the wars in us history doesnt even come close to the amount of death from aids. the numbers are sooo huge and i felt really helpless about it. they also said this was the biggest and worst pandemic humanity has even seen!
so...
what do you think can be done to stop or at least help out these people and stop this horrible pandemic??

The Nitti Beat's Post

Thank god this is only a three day week. I don't know how much more i could take. Finally a little relaxation. However, what i think is funny is that on firday, most of our parents have to go back to work and we will be able to roam the streets free all day. This is also going to happen on christmas too. It falls on a tuesday and they will have to work on the monday before and wednesday after, ha ha ha. I would also like to see the teachers give us a break this week too(Hint to Spoor). I think that the work in advance two weeks ago because of the stike, was dumb and unnessasary. I was up until 12 or 1 every night that week and 10 or 11 the this past week "catching up". I think that we are all in for some good R&R time over our 4 day holiday weekend, including teachers.

rice mania

i too am a little bit obssesed with freerice.com, its pretty much a win-win situation. it improves and helps expand your vocabulary and plays a part in world hunger too. if it truly does what it says it does thats awesome but i wonder how exactly the count each grain of rice. the game says for every right word they give 10 grains of rice....thats a lot to count considering how much they've already donated. anyways i'd like to know how you become a rice grain counter.. seems like a pretty sweet job.
go check it out and help the world one grain(or should i say ten grains0 of rice at a time!

Shannon's Response

That is pretty ridiculous. Three cents is a little crazy, I don't understand why he wouldn't just lower his own prices in competition. Also, that is an interesting question...why are gas stations always so close together?

New Topic.

Has anyone heard of www.freerice.com ?
On the website it lists it's purpose...

"FreeRice is a sister site of the world poverty site, Poverty.com.
FreeRice has two goals:
1. Provide English vocabulary to everyone for free.
2.Help end world hunger by providing rice to hungry people for free.
This is made possible by the sponsors who advertise on this site.
Whether you are CEO of a large corporation or a street child in a poor country, improving your vocabulary can improve your life. It is a great investment in yourself.
Perhaps even greater is the investment your donated rice makes in hungry human beings, enabling them to function and be productive. Somewhere in the world, a person is eating rice that you helped provide. Thank you."

Basically it's a vocab game, every word you get right your vocab level increases and they donate 10 pieces of rice to stop world hunger.


My friend told me about yesterday, and personally I'm addicted...what are your thoughts?

Gas

http://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=3877313

basically the owner of one gas station shoots the owner of another gas station because he sells his gas for 3 cents less than the gas station next to him. That's probably the dumbest thing I've heard someone kill someone over. Three cents?!?!? I don't understand why the owner of the gas station that shot someone just wouldn't lower his price by three cents. Also, why are there so many gas stations next to each other? Seems like whenever I see a gas station, there's another one next to it.

Jamie's thoughts on PIGEONS

hahaa, I think the poor pigeons are having a hard time right now... People aren't allowed to feed them, and the school wants to block them from the entrances. They're thinking of putting up a huge owl?? I think that's really humorous, it's like the owl is warding off all the evil from entering the school.
I don't think the fine for feeding pigeons should be that high. I can see good and bad about feeding pigeons, I mean, it is a harmless act. But then again it attracts more and more of them. Like the fact that we have seagulls in the parking lot, probably because of all the garbage people throw on the ground.

Jamie's Response

I think the strike with the tv writers is good. Because the writers weren't getting paid a lot of money, and without them there wouldn't be anything for the talent to say or talk about. I guess they're just going to be playing reruns until after Thanksgiving, when they have their meeting thing.

Strike In Hollywood

Sorry bout not bein in class this week :P Was really sick. But yea, I've heard about this too. I've also heard that both Jay Leno and Dave Letterman are going to continue to pay all of their employees out of their pockets. The total it's gonna cost them each day is about 100,000 because they didn't want the other employees to be out of money so close to the holidays. That's just awsome!!! Who knew Mr. BigChin could be soo cool!!

(P.S. -- For anyone who is interested, My mother and I are planing to bake a crap load of cookies and all that to send out to the soilders for Christmas/Chanukkah. If your interested in helping or have extra tins that you wouldn't mind giving up, please let me know, either in class or email me --> Luluk89@yahoo.com Thanks!!)

Strike?

has anyone heard about the strike in Hollywood? I heard all of the writers have gone on stroke because they are getting boned. I guess there are going to be no new TV shows in the next couple of weeks and no new movies are going to be written, including transformers two. I think this is very odd. Anyone else hear about this?

People are just getting ridiculous now.... a $1000 fine is wayyyy to extreme just for feeding birds. The fine for theft at my store is only $300... that seems a little off to anyone else??? Also this reminds me of that sign underneath 53 and Kirchoff that says "don't feed the pigeons." i have always thought that was funny. I also am against the new cloning of monkey embryos. At what point do humans stop playing god? That is basically what we are all doing and it needs to stop.

Cloned Monkeys

Researchers in Oregon reported yesterday that they had created the world's first fully formed, cloned monkey embryos and harvested batches of stem cells from them.


Cloning...Good or Bad???

People are ridiculous

Seriously.

Uhm hey buddy.

There's other things in the world to complain about besides pigeons.

Do people really sit around and think "Hmmm... those darn pigeons."

Because I don't.

And I agree.

1,000 dollars?

How about no?

I don't get it.

Shannon's Response

The fine on feeding pigeons is a lot like the incentive to be on time for the daycare in Freakanomics. I think it's a little ridiculous that the fine is $1,000... that's pretty steep to start out at, but it does make sense. Who really likes walking through a sidewalk filled with bird poop? Especially if a lot of kids are present; they don't care what they roll in, that would become a major health issue. Even if feeding the pigeons was my favorite past time, there is no way I would continue to do so if the fee was $1,000. When people stop feeding the pigeons, the pigeons will be less likely to come and therefore the poop will decrease. If the councilman is truly set on eliminating bird poop I think this is an excellent way to do so. I think if they enforce this new ban there will definitely be a difference in a few months.

wow thats bullcraaaaaaap.
do they just start banning and fining everything now? i cant even feed pigeons anymore? whats next? who knows.. i think people need to take a step back and THINK ABOUT what theyre actually doing. seriously..

New Topic...

A New York City councilman is proposing a ban on pigeon feeding. He is mostly fed up with the bird droppings because they are not only gross, but also unhealthy for the people that are around them. The punishment for feeding the birds would be a $1,000 fine...The best part of this story is the video interview with the councilman (it's really funny).

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/living/2007/11/14/intv.ny.pidgeon.feeding.ban.cnn

Do you guys think this is a good idea?

game

I think what happened at the game is so stupud...then they had to go and write about it in the newspaper. Okay so who the hell brought beer cans and 2*4's, who has that just chillen in their purse...no one. And with the beer cans... if someone wanted to drink at a football game they would come walking in with a 24 case, it's all a bunch of crap, to make our school look bad. The whole thing about the blog..thats true cause we do liket o talk a lot of crap...which is fun in all but it got a little mean. And then a parent said they were just trying to do a victory lap...okay no they can call it whatever they want put i think they came over to our side to start all fights. Whatever it is getting a little old because this is all anybody talks about, but i had to sign the blog.

blah

I agree with Tommy! We need to stop all this talk about the game, at least until something new comes up. It seems as though we are just beating a dead horse. This topic is dead, for now.

Does anyone have any new topics? I got nothing...

Bochat's Response

I agree that the football game got way out of hand. I also believe people are making this into a bigger situation than it really is. People really just need to let this thing go. This situation is all i have been hearing about since the game and its getting old. Everything the news is saying is based off of rumors. Plus if anybody has Sponsel and heard his battle plan we could have created we would have deffinetly won that.

Janelle's Post

I think what happened at the football game got way out of hand. I think that it was so disrespectful of the Glenbard fans to come over to our side and do what they did. What really bugs me is I feel like they care more that we lost rather than the fact that they won. I know if we won we would have ran to OUR team and congratulated them, students from our school would never do anything like this. Also, I feel like Glenbard is trying to blame everything on us, saying that our facebook groups and "Army of Darkness" website taunted them, but kids from Glenbard were the ones who came onto the website and started saying shit to us, they even had a link from their facebook group to our "Army of Darkness" website. Also, they claim they just so happened to get stopped right in front of our bleachers on their so called "victory lap" and we started throwing things at them. I think they need to get their story straight, and over here at our school we need to stop spreading rumors about everything, or else the situations going to get even more out of hand.

Dennis' Post

I'd like to say that this football season was by far the best, and I was very interested in what was going on with our football team and fans and read things from the daily herald(I never read the newspaper). It was exciting to see a short video of our fans on the news on fox.

Going to the Glenbard North topic, I agree with everyone saying Glenbard North shouldn't have ran around and flick us off and stealing our equipment and I think they should be punished. If there were only a couple fans that ran around and yelled things, I don't think this would have been as big of deal, but ALL of their fans ran to our side of the field, which made me and probably everyone there angry.

And to answer the questions by Janny as best I can...
1. Yes, they stole our stuff, and I also heard they burned our helmets but not to sure about this.
2. I think they stole a camera, and I don't know what else other than football equipment.
3. I don't know.
4. I heard this also, but not sure.
5. http://www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=76341 so no, they don't forfeit.

Rumors

This is getting a little out of hand!!! sure this whole thing is ridiculous and shouldn't have happened, but it did and everyone spreading all these vicious rumors is not helping. One of the main reasons the kids say they did what they did is because Fremd is all snotty rich kids... that is not true. They gave us ALL the same brand and now we are doing the same towards them. That is not right at all. "The scum of the earth" what the hell is that?!?! Nitti man way out of line!!! That is so mean... what makes them the SCUM OF THE EARTH? some bad decisions and a giant group think. All it took was one person to start it and then everyone else to go along with it. I agree that it would be great if they had to for fit the next game... but why would that solve anything? If anything they would be taken out of the game for poor sportsmanship or something along those lines, not just for fit it... I don't know this is all on speculation so who knows.

i didnt go to the game either, but everything ive heard today was crazy! i heard that all they got today was a talk over the PA. i dont know whats true or whats not but i definitely think they deserved to be punished a lot more than that. ive heard:
1. glenbard stole fremd helmets and burned them?
2. they stole personal property from the cheerleaders and other people?
3. that administrators got punched in the face?
4. theres gonna be a lawsuit from a parent of fremd?
5. theres gonna be a petition for them to forfeit their next game?
somebody tell me whats true and whats not!

The Nitti Beat's Post

The fans of Glenbard are the scum of the earth. I'm personal glad that some of our fans defended them selves and did what they thought was nessasary. The fans were bad, but the Carol Stream police were worse. The "security" or lack there of was a joke to the entire police force. If the cops thought that they could get away with it they were wrong, because the law suit is coming. The Principle should apoligize and concider forfiting their next game in my oppinion.

Football

I didn't go to the football game, but everything I heard was crazy. I do not know what is true and what isn't though and it is starting to piss me off. Does anyone know any stories that are TRUE?!?! Everyone has there own version of what really happened.

SPOOR, what do you think of everything?

glenbard north

First of all, even though we will not be on our way to Memorial Stadium, the football team had a great year. I have never seen school spirit like ours, it was amazing. To be honest, I never enjoyed the football games that much until this year, I looked forward to them every week.

I was extremely shocked by the behavior of the Glenbard North fans. I now have a certain view point of the school based on how they acted. I see them now as rather pompous. I understand that they were excited because of the win but it gives them no right to flick off our fans and run around flaunting it. I have never seen such poor sportsmanship.

thoughts?

If you attended the football game on Saturday night, what were your thoughts on the post game incident?

After the game, the glendbard north student-fans stormed our side of the field towards our fan section and football team and began throwing things, yelling very mean things, flicking our fans off, and stole about 10 of our teams helmets.

From what you all know about sportsmanship, how does what happened at the game change your views on this particular school? or does it not change your views?

Mike's Post

To add to Scottys post of not having time to get things done and balance things out, i totally agree. It is very hard to balance your school work, college stuff, atheltics or activities, and social life into your time that you have day in and day out. I agree with the fact that if you want to have a social life, you have to budget your time and get things done early to free up your time later. Its tough when you have loads of homework, practice right after school, then have to do college applications and essays, and on top of that, try to have somewhat of a social life.

Shannon's Response

I agree with Dennis. I think all the recalls are happening because China workers and companies aren't earning enough to do proper safety tests. But, by not checking the safety of the toy, aren't they loosing more money by having all of them recalled? This needs to stop. We do need more American made toys, or at least the toys being imported need to be safer. There should be stricter laws on toy making and on products being imported to the U.S.

mandies post =]

having 2 nephews under the age of 6 i am personsally terrified by all this toy recall stuff. its awful that that i need to be worried about everything i give them to play with and everything they are already playing with. every once and a while a manufacturer makes a mistake and i guess thats kind of understandable but this amount of recalls is outrageous and make me second guess everything im going to buy this holiday season. we need to start making our own toys and have them thoroughly inspected and tested very carefully before released to such little kids. if we are going to import toys from other countries they also need to be looked at and made sure are safe to play with. kids being this young dont understand what they can and cant put in their mouths, they dont understand whats dangerous or not, parents have enough to deal with when raising kids already that this is just an added stress. its hard to truly create a totally safe enviornment for them and you would really like to think that these products would be approved and fully tested before theyre put on the market. recalls are good because they get the word out and warn parents but it shouldnt have to get that far, at that point the damage is already done.

Scotty B's post

These days, almost everything is not made in the USA. I do see a problem with that, as we pay other countries low wages and they give us defective and dagerous items, and we have less jobs for people in the U.S. To me, it is a lose-lose situation.

schedule/college

This is for people that are juniors and seniors, are you alawys having problems with managing your time and schedule? im have a bit of a problem trying to balace out my school, practice , college, and my social life. im puting in more time on three of the for. i have a very little social life because of trying to get everything done for school and for getting ready for college. I see myself most of the time on the outside of every conversation with my friends. I dont even have much time to even get my hobby in my day to day routine. i see nothing but problems with this last year in school.
so i got a bit of advice of everyone. try to get things done and out of the way as fast as you can. like getting ready for college. get you transcrip release form signed early in the year and get everything you need for colege. the more you have to in the begining the less you have to do later. that means you can have a bit of a social life during the school year.

Ryans responce

what is the point in America making toys for the U.S. if were geting them form other countries. The market economy of American toys is low. We need to make more American made toys and carge a little more of a tarrif on the imported toys. We have People in America that have great ideas for toy but there is no way that they can show us thier idea. there is almost no places at all that have American made toys. I personal had three. i lost them but it did say onb the bottom of the toys Made in the U.S.A.
Me personaly think we should have more places for us to make toys. I see imported things everyday. i never see things that were made from us. there are a million places were we can make a toy factory and make American made toys and export them all around the world.

Dennis' Post

I agree with everyone saying that the problem with the toys being made in China is that the United States pays the workers very low so we get cheap and bad products. Another recalled item was sunglasses...

http://www.thedailygreen.com/environmental-news/latest/lead-toy-recall-47110905

so basically anything can be dangerous, nice to know that the children growing up today have many safe toys. I think people should do a little more testing to make sure toys are safer before making them available to the public.

well.. the whole recall thing is out of control. this is what american companies get for outsourcing and paying the outsourcing people like crap. my opinion is that if you treat them like crap, then thats what you get back. i definitely dont think its the manufacturing plants' fault. maybe they dont have the means to make sure that everything is kosher and up to standard because theyre getting paid a lot less then american are.

The Nitti Beat's Post

Made in America! That's all I have to say. In my opinion americans over the past few years have been pushing the manufacturing out of america. I think this because every parent wants their child to go to college and be succesful in life. However, why can't you be succesful in life if you work in a manfacturing plant. When the deppression hit at the begining of the century people were looking for anything they could do and now everybody wants to be a CEO. Growing up I lived next door to an older couple that met in a Dimler-Chrystler plant in the 60's. They always told me of the great fun that had at the plant and how much they enjoyed their jobs. Now that people think that the factory work that their parents and grandparents did was a wasted life are paying the consequenses.

Bailey's Response

I agree with Shannon and Jamie. These recalls are out of control. One reason I think there are so many problems with toys made in China is that the United States pays the people who manufacture these toys way below minimum wage. And because the manufacturers are being paid so little, they can't really afford to use the right materials to make toys.

Shannon's Response

I think the Aqua Dots recall is pretty ridiculous and I agree with you Jamie, pretty hilarious. How could they not think about using that substance? It's a child's toy...honestly. AND why are we getting all of these toys from China if so many of them are dangerous and being recalled? That's just absurd.

As for the 8 limbed girl, I admire her parents, that's a really tough decision for any disabled child's parent to make, especially if they knew before birth. If you knew before you were going to have your baby that they would be deformed or disabled... would you want to continue the pregnancy?

About aqua dots

BAHAHA, I've heard about this a few times recently, and I think it's one of the funniest things ever. They said that the beads have GHB in it. I'm probably the only one that finds this hilarious, but yeah... So girls, if you see anyone slip some Aqua Beads in your drink, watch out! aaaahahaha

I also saw that Curious George toys are being recalled because they're coated with lead....
What in the world is going on in China? Are they like, pissed at us or something? Trying to date rape our children and lead poison them???

Aqua Dots Recall

November 8th, 2007 by Daniel
In Sections: Recalls, News

There has been an Aqua Dots recall by Spin Master because some children have swallowing the beads and become unconscious, this has made the CPSC (Consumer Product Safety Commission) in cooperation with Spin Master announced a voluntary recall of 4.2 million Aqua Dot products. According to the CPSC, the problem is due to the coating on the beads making them stick together when water is added, so if many are ingested they can turn toxic because of a chemical they contain.
If children do ingested the beads they can slip into a comatose state for a period of time, have seizures, or develop respiratory depression.

I heard this on the radio this morning. I was like woaaaah. Apparently they have a similar effect to a date rape drug. Like seriously how can the manufacturer not know that? Isn't that like part of the tests they do in order to put the toy on the market?