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?

i can see both sides to this issue. i dont know how i feel about it tho. im a very indecisive person.. but then again if i was the mom of this kid, i would just let life take its course. If i let this girl live, everybody, the parents, the child, the doctors, everybody involved is gonna have to live with it.

Lauren's post: octopus girl

I also read about the girl born with four legs and four arms in the paper yesterday. My initial thought was "wow that sucks" and "how does that even happen anyways?" It was a similar situation to the one we read about in the article in class. I don't think children born with disabilities like this should be kept alive and have to live a life knowing nothing but doing multiple procedures and surgeries year after year thinking "I wonder if I'll die tomorrow..." also the fact that up to millions of dollars could be spent when there is little hope in the first place. Money like this could be used for other people who do have a chance of surviving. I think if I was put in the situation, I would be happy to help change the life of someone whose life is at stake by using the money on them instead. Another alternate choice could be to use the money for research to help our society better understand different disabilities, illnesses, etc. and make a difference in the lives of people in the future. But then again, I don't know what it truly feels like to go through something like that, either it being myself or someone close to me. It would probably be unbelievably painful. But, I still think it would need to be something that you just let go of and put in God's hands.

With the article that we read in class, i really do'nt think that the surgery should have been preformed. there were extremely high chances that niether would end up surviving and the doctors knew for a fact that at least one would die which means, they would have had to pick which one would live. however with the case of the 8 limbed baby, it's hard to sit here and say that the surgery shouldn't have been preformed beucase she ended up surviving which surprised a lot of people. I'm definately not a doctor and i don't think even doctors can really make 100% correct perdictions all the time. It all depends on the case i guess but i still believe that if there is a situation (like the article) that you know that at least one will die and the other only a 1% chance of survival, i think the money should go to help other less fortunate people who can be saved.

8 limbs Q FOR U

The article that Mr. Spoor just gave us in class, the one that talks about the siamese twins, reminds me of this situation. It is astonishing some of the disabilities that children are born with. I find it interesting how an innocent child that has not even been introduced to this harsh world has to be challenged with disabilities.

Should surgury be preformed on a child or any person for that matter that has a small chance of life...or should the money go elsewhere?

What do you guys think?

The Girl w/ 8 limbs

I heard on the radio this morning that the girl's surgery, which appearently didn't have a high chance of success, was completely and totally successful. This got me thinkin' : Is the risk really worth the outcome? Right now, I bet you that the doctors are congradulating each other and the parents couldn't be more thankful, as it should be. I exspect it was very difficult for both parties to even consider an oporation which such a low rate of success but I was thinking that if the doctor knew that the kid was most likely going to die, would he have at least tried anyways? Well, he did and the kid is happy, healthy and normal so, to me at least, it was alittle inspirering

Totally found a video

http://www.cnn.com/2007/HEALTH/11/06/india.girl/index.html#cnnSTCVideo

Caitlyn's Post

I think in this case it was a good idea to go through wiht the operation. It helps to know that people in their village are supporting the girl and even see her as an incarnation of Lakshmi. It seemed like the doctor's knew what they were talking about and were pretty sure they could do the operation. Also it was a free operation for a poor family and not alot of opportunities are free and without the operation there would need to be money spent for special needs for the child. I think it's risky but I agree with Megan, 20% doesnt seem as terrible.

jamie's response

Yeah, I heard about the 8 limbed girl on the news today. And I also was immediately reminded of class the other day. They said that the parents always hid the baby because they got an offer from the circus to buy the kid from them...
That's sooooo horrible, but for some reason it makes me laugh. I think I laugh at the Circus the most, because that's such a horrific thing to do... "Hello ma'am, I'd like to buy your baby for 50$ so I can showcase her in the 'Freak of Nature' section...." That kid is gonna be so messed up when it grows up. Now she's always gonna be referred to as the Freak that had 8 limbs...

Shannon's Post

I agree with Mandie, emotional trauma is inevitable. However, I do think this situation is very different than the one we read about in class. As I understand it, the other twin is already dead and the toddler is left simply with the excess organs? If that's the case, then she's going to have emotional trauma anyway, she might as well have the chance of a normal life. Since the risk of her surviving is 80% I think it would be worth the operation.

mandies post =]

like mr. spoor said in class the emotional aspects of anything like this are hard to cure. No matter which way you slice the cake theres going to be an emotional side effect. In any situation like this or similar to it, if you go into the surgery and the baby(ies) end(s) up dying the mother is going suffer the pain of losing a child as well as she will wonder what would have happened if she had not had the surgery. If they dont have the surgery and the baby lives she will always wonder what could have happened if she had had the surgery, could it have had a more normal life? on the other hand if she doesnt have it and the baby dies she will always feel guilty. So in trying to answer Heather's question the emotional trauma will occur either way so to me it isnt a matter of if its worth it or not. this kind of situation has to be incredibley diffacult to make and i couldnt imagine having to ever do that.

dennis's post

Not to be mean or anything, but I don't think the surgery should be done. 20% chance of survival is still more than that other baby that we had read about with a 2% or 3% chance of survival, but 20% is still pretty low. Also, I didn't see a price on how much the surgery would cost to make Lakshmi have a normal body, but I'm sure that it is very expensive. I just think it would be more beneficial if the money was spent on vaccinations and other people who had a high probability of living. Also, even if the girl lives, I doubt she would live a normal life and would have to live knowing that her twin died so she could live.

A little odd. Never heard of anybody with 4 legs and 4 arms. It said the toddler has a 20% chance, i would say go for it. The chance of it surviving is greater then the toddler dying so there is hope. After the fact she will be left to live a normal life.

Eight Limbs

That is crazy. I have never heard of that before, I had no idea that even happens. I really would have liked to see a picture of her with the limbs but i could not find one, if anyone finds one will they post the link?

Doctors operate on girl with eight limbs

Randeep Ramesh in New Delhi
Wednesday November 7, 2007
The Guardian

A two-year-old girl born with four arms and four legs was yesterday undergoing surgery by a team of 40 doctors in an operation that the hospital hopes will leave her with a normal body.

The girl, named Lakshmi after the four-armed Hindu goddess of wealth, suffers from ischiopagus, a rare condition which means that she is joined to a "parasitic twin" who stopped developing in the womb. In the womb the surviving foetus absorbs the limbs, kidneys and other organs. In Lakshmi's case, the "twins" are joined at the pelvis and have one head and two pairs of arms and legs. The operation, paid for by one of India's new hi-tech multi-speciality hospitals in Bangalore, is a 40-hour ordeal. Doctors said last night that Lakshmi's condition was stable.

Dr Sharan Patil, the orthopaedic surgeon at Sparsh hospital, which is part of Narayana Health City, told reporters that the first incision was made at 8.45am. "There were a few unexpected things but we were able to manoeuvre them satisfactorily. Things are progressing to our satisfaction and Lakshmi is stable," he said.

Lakshmi was born into a poor family in a remote village in the northern state of Bihar, where locals have venerated her as an incarnation of the Hindu deity.

"Everybody considers her a goddess at our village," her father, Shambhu, a labourer told the Associated Press. "All this expenditure has happened to make her normal. So far, everything is fine."

The operation carries a substantial risk. The surgical staff have to separate not only two spines but also the two stomachs, four kidneys and two chest cavities.

Doctors admit there is a 20% chance Lakshmi will not survive. "The complex surgery is being carried out to remove the extraneous parts very carefully and move up all structures into Lakshmi without causing any harm," Dr Patil said.

Conjoined twins occur in about one in every 200,000 births. Lakshmi's kind forms only 3% of all conjoined babies.

This article reminds me of what we talked about in class today. Is the risk and emotional trauma worth it? To what effect does it have on our decisions?

strike responce

i think that the teachers striking is a good and bad thing. consider the facts.

• the teacers could get what they want and then be happy.
• they could do more that what they could before (depending on the issue)
• we get out of school for a day or so.

but then the bad part.

• it could cut into our summer time.
• we could not get the time to be with friends in school.
• we cant work on project or retake test/quizes.
• teacher dont get paid.

it is a win lose situation depending on how you look at it. there are people hoping for the strik and others hoping for no strike. me i realy dont care. i take what is coming.

I forgot to add this

I wanted to approach the subject of the strike from a very careful position...I have a feeling that if we go too crazy with it, Spoor's gonna kill me for raising the subject. Just be cautious with what you say

STRIKE

I am not sure if the teachers are allowed to talk about the strike in there classes? I bet all of the teachers do not know EVERYTHING that is going on anyways so why would they half or possibly misinform you, do you know what I mean? I agree that we have every right to know what is going on with the whole situation, but they do not have to tell us. If everyone wants to know so bad read up on it:

http://www.d211.org/negotiating_update.shtml

I do agree when Trish said we are mature enough to talk about it and our teachers do not give us enough credit. They assume a young age directly relates with stupidity and not understanding, but they don't even attempt to explain any of this to us. They do just change the subject. I think we should all ask our teachers and if they try to change the subject call them out on it, DO NOT LET THEM CHANGE THE SUBJECT. I don't know... give it a try.

HOPE FOR AMERICA

I am voting for Ron Paul. He is fighting for freedom! If you are looking into all the candidates, look into Dr. Paul.

Brief Overview of Congressman Paul’s Record:

He has never voted to raise taxes.

He has never voted for an unbalanced budget.

He has never voted for a federal restriction on gun ownership.

He has never voted to raise congressional pay.

He has never taken a government-paid junket.

He has never voted to increase the power of the executive branch.
He voted against the Patriot Act.

He voted against regulating the Internet.He voted against the Iraq war.
He does not participate in the lucrative congressional pension program.

He returns a portion of his annual congressional office budget to the U.S. treasury every year.

A Bit of a Taboo Subject

I know Spoor told us that we shouldn't talk about the strike on the blog, but it is a conserning topic and if we arn't going to, I would advise you stop reading now. We all know that it's a very strong possibility that we all might not have school on Thursday because of it. Teachers change the subject as soon as it comes up and won't really talk about it either. But the truth is that I am more then alittle conserned about what's going to happen. I believe that we all are mature enough to talk about it, in spite of it 'not being our consern' becuase it is our consern and we are just as effected by it. Spoor, if you think that we shouldn't talk about this, then by all means, delete this post (as far as I know, I think you can) but all I want to know is what do all of you think about it?

Bobbo's post

To be completley honest, I haven't been paying any attention to the presidential campaign. If there was a way that you could cast a vote and have it take away a vote from some one running, I would vote for Clinton. I have never liked Bill Clinton or any one associated with him so I definitly don't want Hilary to win.

Also, back on the video game topic, I agree with what everyone else has said. The parents should be monitoring what games they let their children play. If the game says, 'Rated M for Mature,' dont buy that game for your 6 year old unless you feel that your child has a firm grasp on the concept of right and wrong.

Bailey's Response

It's really hard to say who I think should be the next president because elections are not for another year. But, if I had to make a decision right now, I would vote for Obama. I wouldn't vote for Hilary because I just get the feeling that the only reason people think she would be good in office is because she is the wife of Bill Clinton; and if she was elected, it would be a way to get him back into the white house.

i think im more for obama than anybody else because i saw his program on mtv where people asked him questions and answered them. i agree with a lot of the things that he said that should be done.

Anastasia's Response

I am not really interested in politics mostly because I hardly understand anything. I don't know a lot but I would like to learn. I recently watched a show, where Obama was the guest and students where asking him questions about his beliefs, opinions and what he would do if he was nominated president. I really liked what he said. I agree with Carrie about Clinton. But I think that we have these thoughts just because it is unusual for a women to be President and we don't know how they would work in the presidential office. I also had the same question Jamie had...

Jamie's response

I really am not into politics and all that jazz. But I'm keeping in mind that I'm voting next year, and that my vote is important and I should be careful with who I vote for. So I've been trying to get into all this election stuff to start understanding everything. Right now I don't really know who I'm voting for.
But I have a question, aren't both Clinton and Obama for the Democratic party? So wouldn't the election we vote in be for whoever makes it past the primaries?

Dennis' Post

I agree with Carrie that the next election is far away and I like most students probably aren't thinking too much about this election, instead I am thinking about the football game tomorrow. However, if the election was tomorrow, I would probably vote for Obama, since he just has that thing that makes people like him. I don't really agree with the whole, Hilary is a woman so she would be too emotional. I think this is just a stereotype and if she was elected to be president I think she would be more rational about issues than be emotional.

Shannon's Response

I agree with Carrie and Mike. I hope our nation experiences changes no matter who is elected. As for a women president, I think it could benefit our nation. However, as Carrie said, women are more emotional and do cry more often which could cause some problems. But not every women is an emotional mess, who's to say one of the male candidates isn't emotional as well? I havn't thought about who I'm voting for yet, but Hilary is still an option, you shouldn't eliminate her just because she's a woman.

Danae's Response

I have to agree with Carrie, I think that a girl in the office is not a smart idea. Not because i dont think a girl and do it. I am sure we can but as Carrie said that we are just to emotional and we do things without thinking about them first. I think guys are better off in that kind of enviroment because they dont react right away they think things through. Now I might be wrong becuase maybe one day there will be a girl in office and she might be really good at it. But for now I myself would not vote for Hillary. I do think there is something wrong with her she just doesnt give me a good feeling inside idk i guess people just have that sence to them and she deffenitly does. Obama seems really good for office but I think i have to look way more into what they are all about becuase right now I am not following anything :)

the election: 2008

Yeah I am not too sure who I will be voting for in the 2008 election. All I know is that I am for sure voting. The up coming election is a very important one because it decides who gets to take over our country. Hopefully, they can help us out of this current rut we are in. I think it's funny that some people have a countdown to when bush is no longer in office anymore. Way to suck at running a country Bush. People have their hate fan club for you.

Well Carrie said that she can't see a woman in office. I disagree. Maybe not Hilary... but I think a woman can and someday will be president. Times are changing and women are every bit capable to take charge. You don't know how a woman will do in the position until she is actually elected into office.

carrie's response

the election is over a year away and i hardly know what i will be doing this weekend. I can't really plan that far ahead. however, i know i will not be voting for Hilary beucase i feel as though there's something strange about her. This is going to sound very sexist especially becuase i am a girl myself, but i cannot see a women in the oval office. We are to emotional unstable. too much crying. I think obama seems like the kind of guy who you can just hang out with. he has a cute family and reminds me of the kennedys, (he's young with young children.)

The Nitti Beat's Post

Who are Clinton and Obama? Well, it really doen't matter because Rudy Giuliani is running for president too. The way he handeled New York during 911 was quite possibly one of the best displays of leadeship i've ever seen. I would vote for Cobert before i'd vote for either Clinton, who ran the country in to the ground when her husband was in office, or Obamba, the one who no body knows how he will run the country. Even if Rudy wasn't a repulican i would still vote for him becausehe is really the most experianced and most qualified for the job.

Mike's Response on this fine blog here.

My thoughts on this upcoming election are kind of up in the air. It would be pretty interesting to see what would happen if our nation's first women president is elected. Who would the first lady be? Bill Clinton? A lot of changes will happen and our nation and hopefully changes for the better no matter who is elected. Personally, my vote will go to republican Mayor Giuliani because I feel he can lead our nation in a positive and very effective way.

Trish's responce

I so totalally agree. Video games and violent movies have nothing to do with it. Does anyone even watch Scream and think to themselves "Hey, that looks like fun"? I think that if they did, then the movies or video games have nothing to do with it. They were messed up from the start. Maybe, maybe, the video games and movies would be a trigger, at best, but people who are of sound mind don't watch violent movies and then want to go out and kill people, or play video games and then go on a shooting rampage.


~New Question~
Well, it looks like we might have our first woman president. I'm not so sure I'll be voting for her in this up-coming election. Strictly Obama vs. Clinton, what do you guys think?

Josh's Response

I Agree with the rest of them. It is unfair and ridiculous to try and hold back or remove the games that have volencie in them. If a child is playing a volent game why is it the makers fault. The parents should be watching the kids. Also when you get older you have a better understanding of what is right and wrong. why can we just keep the way things are. The games are now rated and if a parents are complaining about their kids bing exposed to volenice. well tought luck. stop ruining it for the rest of us. Why don't you just keep a better eye on your kids. Some of us like to blow off some steam by playing a game where you go around a shot other players. SO STOP YOUR COMPLAINING PARENTS.

Caitlyn's response

I agree with basically everyone else, it isnt fair to hold back a video game just because it's violent. You cant' always force somebody to do whatever YOU want. Saying that a video game will make you violent is pretty crazy too. It's almost like saying that if you watch a scary movie with a murderer in that movie then the audinece is going to go out and do the same thing. Things like video games are only meant to entertain us and if you dont like it or it doesnt entertain you then you dont have to buy it. For the most part people understand the difference between real and fake.

Video Game Violence

The whole video game thing, i dont know where i stand on it. When i was in like 8th grade a bunch of us loved to play the game Grand Theif Auto, but it was just played for fun and i never thought or even trying to hijack a car. I dont think kids up to a certain age should be limited as to what video games they are allowed to play, but after a certain age they should be able to play what they want. Playing violent video games isnt going to make somebody turn violent, there has to be a lot more than that. I dont think anybody should be anrgy about a violent game, if they dont want to play it then dont, but it sucks that they might ruin it for the rest of the people who enjoy playing the game.

Janny's post =]

i agree with everybodys posts. those mature video games are meant for people who understand the difference between reality and video games. for those people, video games like halo or manhunt are almost a place to vent life's frustrations. they know enough wrong from right to know that its definitely not ok to do that in real life. the problem is when little kids who cant distinguish from it just being a video game from real life. then it starts influencing their behavior and the violence from those games are incorporated in their personality and thats when its bad.

Danae's Post

Ok so yea this is going to sound weird coming from a girl. And I have to agree with Mike N that things that we do every day we do take a lot more seriously. I play xbox live halo and people get soooooooooo into it but it is just fun seeing peoples reactions to everything. I have never actually wanted to kill someone or hurt someone.... The younger you start to play these games the more it is put into your head. We dont take these things seriously becuase we are so much older than other people and we know what is right and what is wrong. Little kids who play this they dont think it is wrong because they dont know what is good or not. And I think it has a big part on the parents. I mean the games are rated for a reason.... why on earth would you go and buy your kid a Mature or Teen rated game when they arnt supposed to be playing it. Its the enviroment that you come up in.