18. June 2009 by Mr. Andoscia.

The posts below have been graded.

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18. June 2009 by student.

A Pandemic is declared on June 11, 2009. The World Health Organization (WHO) raised the worldwide pandemic alert level to Phase 6 in response to the ongoing global spread of the novel influenza A (H1N1), or the Swine Flu virus. More than 70 countries are now reporting cases of human infection with novel H1N1 flu. This number has been increasing over the past few weeks, but many of the cases reportedly had links to travel or were localized outbreaks without community spread. I have found that Twitter and Facebook and all the other forms of sharing links assist our global society in dealing with a kind of virus none of us wants to see expanded. You can find a neat link on these social networks called the #swineflu hash tag, which are blogs from people all over the world providing information about this epidemic. These blogs inform us the number of death rates, updated information on the cases, etc. But the #swineflu hashtag is also a virtual societal scare over the kind of pandemic we’ve always been warned about. It is clear now that the social network is carrying a larger societal weight on time of crisis, by trying to unite citizens together to help.  Some helpful tips on preventing this virus:- Shield others from your coughs and sneezes by using a tissue.- Wash your hands often- Keep your hands away from your eyes, nose or mouth.- Maintain healthful habits — get ample sleep and exercise, drink fluids, eat well.

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18. June 2009 by student.

What about all of the teenagers that say college is not for them? Are they really just not into college or are they too lazy to even try? What’s the big deal with going to college? Yeah, you might have to suffer through a lot of studying for a few years, but guess what in the end it’s all worth it. College is one of the best things that you can do with your life. It gives you so many opportunities to experience so many different things. Wouldn’t you rather be able to splurge at the store every once in a while than constantly have to worry about how you are going to pay next month’s bills? Of course, the plus side of college is that you will make more money than someone who chooses not to go to college.  A person with a doctoral degree makes an average of $1,555/week, a person with a master’s degree makes an average of $1,228/week, a person with an associate degree makes an average of $736/week, and a person with a high school diploma makes an average of $591/week. Now wouldn’t you rather have a doctoral degree?

Megan Clouse

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18. June 2009 by student.

Abusive child labor is a big problem affecting the world today. According to the UNICEF an estimated of 158 million children aged 5-14 are engaged in child labor - one in six children in the world.“In Sub-Saharan Africa around one in three children are engaged in child labor, representing 69 million children”. “In South Asia, another 44 million are engaged in child labor”. Those numbers are really high and are a situation for the concern of the whole society. Children living in the poorest and dysfunctional families and in rural areas are most likely to be engaged in child labor. Those loaded with household tasks are overwhelmingly girls. Millions of girls who work as domestic servants are especially susceptible to exploitation and abuse. Labor often interferes with children’s education.
We need to be a society in action that helps those children to achieve their goals. I think there are possible solutions, there are so many organizations that are putting all their effort in assist those kids to go ahead with their lives, helping at the same to their parents providing them with opportunities to earn a regular, sustainable income. National governments need to play a big role in enforcing the laws for children exploitation, even though the laws are not well enforced in a lot of countries like Africa or India. The question is, what can we do as individuals to help to eradicate child labor?

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18. June 2009 by student.

People think that it is so great these days to have sex at such a young age. But is it really worth it?  In today’s society, everyone thinks that it is cool to have sex by the time that you are thirteen. Young adults are the most common victims of STD’s. Probably because they are not informed properly of the risks and the ways that they can protect themselves from the danger and illnesses that might take place by having unprotected and irresponsible sexual activities. Think about all of the complications that can occur from having sex so soon. How about the fact that you might have an unwanted pregnancy, STD’s, AIDS, and not to mention all of the drama? In the
U.S., 1 in 4 sexually active teens become infected with an STD every year. Are you one of the four walking around, not even knowing that you have a STD? Four of the most common STDs are chlamydia, gonorrhea, genital warts, and herpes. Sadly, another statistic, out of every ten teenagers, one of them knows someone who has HIV. Some STD’s can be cured easily and some take a long time to cure. Unfortunately, there are some STD’s that can’t be cured at all. Bacterial STD’s are treatable, viral STD’s are not. Can you imagine that for the rest of your life you have to tell your sexual partner(s) that you are infected with painful, wart-like lesions in your genital area? Life would be miserable. Sure sex feels good, but the complications aren’t worth it.

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18. June 2009 by student.

Equal employment opportunity can be instrumental in the development of a society. The ability of a people to have the best suited people at the very least eligible for positions in public service a private industry can be a factor in the positive development of a societal group. Conversely, the denial of opportunity to the best qualified people based on criteria not relevant to a person’s ability but rather on criteria related to race, color, religion, sex, national origin or sexual orientation discourage fair competition for jobs. This robs the society of talent and permits persecution of individuals, furthering societal decay and unrest. Title VII of the U.S. Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VII), which prohibits employment discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin.The law however falls short of prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation. The political climate and societal norms of 1964 did not allow for the inclusion of sexual orientation as a protected based in this act.  It remains questionable whether today, 45 years later sexual orientation would be acceptable to U.S. society as a protected base. The reality of this is that people of sexual orientation other than heterosexual can be openly discriminated against in employment in:

• hiring and firing;
• compensation, assignment, or classification of employees;
• transfer, promotion, layoff, or recall;
• job advertisements;
• recruitment;
• testing;
• use of company facilities;
• training and apprenticeship programs;
• fringe benefits;
• pay, retirement plans, and disability leave; or
• other terms and conditions of employment.

The vulnerability of non heterosexuals to this type of discrimination robs a society of valuable talent in public service as well as private industry. The manifestation of this type of discrimination creates societal unrest and friction that is not conducive to positive societal development.

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18. June 2009 by student.

MySpace is a social networking websitewith an interactive, user-submitted network of friends, personal profiles, blogs, groups, photos, music, and videos for teenagers and adults internationally. In June 2006 MySpace became the most popular social networking site according to Wikipedia. Since it was founded in 2003 it has more than 60 million active users, an average of 250,000 new registrations per day & an average of 3% growth per week since June 2007, and active users are doubling up every 6 months according to http://techradar1.wordpress.com/2008/01/11/facebookmyspace-statistics/.

MySpace is pretty self explanatory to most and I am going to guess that most have an account. I know that still will the statistics of the users, I still have many friends who DO NOT own a MySapce account & think that MySpace is a waste of time. As of April 2009 social networking has gone up 83%. In 2008 the total average minutes spent on MySpace was 7,254,654 minutes from a poll by http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-10255626-93.html. MySpace is an addiction to many people. I know some people who have to log on to MySpace everyday. Throughout the day they sometimes stay logged on ALL day. I know no life huh?

MySpace does have it’s good’s & bad’s. There was a suicide due to a made up MySpace account and many people make up fake profiles to start fights (people get brave on computers, not in person). I see it as a lot of drama on the computer. MySPace does have it’s goods as well. People have found family members on MySpace, reunited with old friends, and keep in touch with family that does not live near by. I guess depends on who you are & how you use it go with the flow. If you are being clean and minding your business than have fun with it. I am sure there are many people who are obsessed with it or stay away from it. Whatever floats your boat!!!!

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