Ann's blog on google earth

Ann’s Blog #9:

“The Google ‘ick’ factor” (cnn.com, June 4, 2007)


There has been some recent controversy over the image capabilities of Google. Basically, people are just concerned for the privacy of people. “In San Francisco, there's a man picking his nose on a street corner, another fellow taking out the trash and another guy scaling the outside of an apartment building, perhaps just for fun or maybe for some more sinister purpose. Further down the highway at Stanford University, there's the titillation of a couple coeds sunbathing in their bikinis. In San Jose, there's the rather sad sight of a bearded man apparently sleeping -- or did he just pass out? -- in the shadow of a garbage can, with what appears to be an empty cup perched in front of him.
In Miami, there's a group of protesters carrying signs outside an abortion clinic. In other cities, you can see men entering adult book stores or leaving strip joints.” Scenes like these are making people wonder whether the Internet's leading search engine has gone too far.

When it is talked about like it is in the examples, it really is ‘ick.’ There is a matter of privacy on the line. When I go about my daily life I shouldn’t have to be constantly thinking that there is always someone watching me. The average person isn’t a celebrity; we shouldn’t have to deal with loss of privacy. Also, this creates a lot of room for people with stalker-ish tendencies to go crazy. Which is a disturbing thought. While I can totally see where people have concerns, I can also defend Google. It is really a cool thing to be able to do. If you think about it in less of a stalker mindset, you can visualize revisiting a city that you visited on your last year’s vacation. You can say, “oh yeah, that restaurant on the corner was amazing” and “that’s where we saw the hummingbird.” It is a cool way of being able to relive your fond memories. Also, if this technology is readily available for all people, think about how long the CIA and the government has had their hands on things like this. I understand that there are limitations on stuff like this legally, but in the hands of a corrupt individual? It’s weird to think about what my government could know about me if they wanted to…and now what my aunt could know about me, or the stalker down the street. But ultimately with technology things, there will always be controversy at the beginning until people get used to it. That is just something that we are going to have to accept; technology changes our lives emensly.

Article from:
http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/internet/06/01/google.candid.camera.ap/index.html
Picture from:
http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/internet/06/01/google.candid.camera.ap/index.html

also...look at how happy his proud parents are. its just fenominal (betcha that word would throw him for a loop too, its a toughy)

Ann's Blog on spelling bee

Ann’s Blog #8:

“Californian wins spelling bee with ‘serrefine’” (cnn.com, June 3, 2007)

A thirteen year-old won the national spelling be finals. His name is Evan O’Dorney and his spelling skills brought him a title, trophy and multiple prizes. He is an eighth grade home-schooled student in his hometown of Danville, California. Spelling the word ‘serrefine’ is what brought him the 80th national title in the history of the annual spelling bees. Supposedly, the final round was between Evan and a boy named Nate Gartke from Spruce Grove, Alberta. Nate was attempting to be the first Canadian to win. Even though Evan is obviously talented in spelling, it is not his favorite thing to do. He is very interested in math and music. He feels passionate about those things whereas he calls spelling ‘just a bunch of memorization.’ Last year he tied for 14th which won him $35000 cash in addition to a $5000 scholarship, a $2500 savings bond and a set of reference works. It is his ritual to eat fish before his spelling bee competitions, but this year he didn’t. (Just in case you were curious?)

“Afterward, Evan spoke more enthusiastically about attending a math camp in Nebraska this summer than about becoming the English language's top speller.” I’m sorry, but I am so amused by top-notch nerds. Don’t get me wrong, I admire them completely and they are the reason that I am able to go to school and learn thing- because they turn into little Pythagoreans running around figuring things out. But a ‘math camp in Nebraska’? haha I am just thoroughly amused. That is where I would choose to spend my summer break. Good for him. After reading that article, I have been thinking about what it would be like to be him -which led to thoughts about what he would think about being me. Does he secretly wish he could be involved in athletics or have friends that don’t wear pocket protectors (I’m just kidding, I’m aware that that is a very common misconception –they are not actually pocket protectors, but rather zip-lock bags to hold their pens J…). But anyway, as I’m, very lovingly, mocking his lifestyle, I wonder if he would do the same about mine. I’m sure he would. Most people would. It is a difficult task to be able to love the lifestyle someone else lives. I suppose that is why we all lead different ones, because we all love different things and find success in different things. Another little tidbit that was in the article was this: When asked whether he liked the bee more now that he's won it, Evan said: "Are you saying I'm supposed to like it more? Yeah, I do a little bit." That little quote struck me, somehow. It just got me thinking about how success=happiness. It just doesn’t quite make sense to me. Why, for the most part, do we only like things, or at least enjoy them more, if we are successful? That is the way it works most of the time. Somehow, we need the little skip in our step of being good at something to be happy doing it. There are many things about human nature that puzzle me; this makes another one to add to the list.

Article from:
http://www.cnn.com/2007/EDUCATION/05/31/spelling.bee.ap/index.html
Picture from:
http://www.cnn.com/2007/EDUCATION/05/31/spelling.bee.ap/index.html

Ann’s Blog #7:

“New home prices plunge, sales soar” (cnn.com May 24, 2007)

This article comes from the center of the money-world…New York. It tells about how the real estate market has been recently fluctuating. As I take it, the average price of a home sold in April was quite a bit lower than usual. Now, as a repercussion of that, there is better-than-expected sales. This is the latest from the estate and home building market that was released on Thursday. The annual rate of homes sold in April was up 16.2 percent than the annual rate of homes sold in March. That is apparently the biggest jump that has been made in 14 years. It has been the largest year-over-year drop in the median of a new home price since December 1970. It is the biggest month-to-month drop EVER. Wowzas!! At the same time, the April sales still came in 10.6 percent lower than the average of other past Aprils.

This home-buying business is complete craziness. I was attracted to this article because my sister and her husband of less than a year are looking REALLY HARD to find a house in Alexandria. I have been able to lately experience all of the chaos and stress of trying to buy a house. They had one that they liked quite a bit and they put an offer in for it, but then something happened on the seller’s side with the way the house was registered, so they decided to pull out of it before they ran into any more problems. Since then they have looked at, I think, about 100 houses (this was just recently too, so they have been REALLY busy). I have gone with them before to look at them, and, I’ll tell you, it is such a chore. THERE IS ALWAYS SOMETHING WRONG WITH A HOUSE. So they are trying to prioritize what they want most out of a house, and it gets really stressful. I can notice an extreme difference in them because of the weight of the stress of the decision. I hope that when I get married and am ready to buy a house of my own I can build my own house. From the outside, it seems like it would be the perfect solution; but when I talk to my parents and hear their experiences, it seems like maybe that wouldn’t be the best idea. We have moved quite a bit since I was born, all within Alexandria, but I have moved four times in my life. And each time, my parents were trying to buy their ‘perfect dream home’. Easier said than done, apparently. But they inform me that you learn so much about what you want through the process of buying a new house, so it might not be the best of ideas to jump right into building when I first get married. I may think that I know what I want, but I will have never lived with another person, so it could be a better idea to wait. Anyway, I hope my sister and brother-in-law will be able to find a house soon, then they can maybe be settled down enough to become a mom and dad. That would make me an auntie!! Just call me auntie annie!!

Article from:
http://money.cnn.com/2007/05/24/news/economy/new_home_sales/index.htm?cnn=yes
Picture from:
http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&q=homes&gbv=2

Ann's Blog on Chinas Space Exploration...kinda:

Ann’s Blog #6:

“China aims for the moon” (cnn.com, May 21, 2007)

China plans to launch a lunar orbiter towards the end of the year. This orbiter is called Chang’e I orbiter. If it is successful in fully orbiting the moon, then the next step will be to make a landing. The purpose of the mission would be for the moon rover to collect samples from the moon’s surface. A Chinese member of the National Space Administration is quoted in the article by saying, “The moon probe project is the third milestone in China's space technology after satellite and manned spacecraft projects, and a first step for us in exploring deep space.” In 2003, China became the third country to send to launch a man into space in a rocket. The other two nations being, of course, the United States and the former Soviet Union during the Cold War era. In 2005 they sent two men into space and they plan to accomplish Chinese footsteps on the moon by 2008.

I often change my mind on how I view our country. Don’t get me wrong, I am just a patriotic as the guy next to me, and I will support America to the death, but sometimes I think that we view ourselves too highly. I understand that through the World Wars and the Cold War we became an influential superpower, and I know that we have done a WHOLE LOT of good, especially for being such a young country compared to other countries. I am so proud of most of our accomplishments when I think about how difficult it is to be country containing people. Which sounds dumb, but anywhere there is people there is bound to be some corruption and unneeded drama. And with all things considered, I am very proud to be an American. At the same time I feel as though we stick our noses into other peoples business a little too often. But I can’t be to critical of that because, as far as I know we always do it with the best of intentions. But I don’t think that we can always think that we can fix all of the problems in the world. I know that we are influential, and it also goes along with the whole enlightened self interest idea (to protect ourselves) but sometimes you just need to allow for things to settle out by themselves, without trying to rush and fix the problem expecting immediate results. I guess I’m kind of getting at the War on Iraq, and I have mixed feelings about it, but at the end of the day I don’t think that I am against it. And I think that president bush deserves our full support because it is impossible to get anything accomplished without support. I feel like optimism is all that is needed for success. I know that President Bush is doing all that he can to make the situation in Iraq better and to secure our nation, and I praise him for that. I feel really bad that he will forever be remembered as a President who failed. Yes, there are some things that I think that he could have handled in a better way, but I think that he needs my forgiveness and support in order to make progress. Wowzas I got off on a tangent, but anyway, I think that it is kind of like a slap across the face that other nations are finally catching up to us in things like this. It is enough to worry me and make me say, “golly, politicians you better kick it into high gear in order to not fall behind and all for the ‘American lifestyle’ to remain.” It is crazy, just this year when I was studying the Cold War, I started thinking about it and I found it completely crazy that I had never heard of any other countries landing on the moon. When I was thinking about it, I couldn’t believe that there could have been no other countries landing there. So I was curious and I asked Mr. Donahue and he told me that only Americans had landed on the moon. That made me really admire our country and make me be thankful for being born an American. It is good for China, I guess, that they are making the space exploration deal. But at the same time it makes me jealous and, selfishly, I want them to fail because then I will be able to see America as #1. Those feelings aren’t overwhelming, but there are a few there. I’m not sure if that is some weird form of patriotism, or what, but…that’s my ideas and opinions. Hope you enjoyed my lengthy speal.

Article from:
http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/space/05/21/china.moon.reut/index.html
Picture from:
http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&q=the+moon&gbv=2

Ann's Blog on the Barbie Bandits

Ann’s Blog #5:

Barbie Bandit: ‘Stuff we did was pretty ignorant’ (cnn.com, May 19, 2007)

So get this…we’ve got two idiotic girls making headlines from Acworth, Georgia. The story goes a little something like this. Two girls, named Heather Johnston and Ashley Miller, came up with an idea to rob a bank. The idea came up as a joke, says Johnston. They had an inside man working as the teller at a local Neighborhood National Bank. After struggling with finding the right bank, they were caught on the video surveillance system of the bank wearing trendy sunglasses and laughing while stealing $11,000. They had slight other issues also, when the teller practically threw the money at them and they lost control of it for a moment. After the heist, the ‘Barbie Bandits’ as they have been named, headed strait for the nearest mall where their first order of business was to get their hair highlighted. After their hair was fresh and new for them, they went shopping, ate a meal and gave some money to the homeless. The girls (along with the bank teller and one other man) were arrested two days later.

I am very amused by this whole story. Especially from all of the quotes worked into the article by Heather Johnston. Here are a couple; “We took a wrong turn somewhere, ended up going to a completely different Bank of America,” “He started throwing it [the money] and it was like going everywhere," “We had got them a couple weeks before this even came up. Like, we called them our stunner shades," “I mean, it's crossed a lot of people's minds, from what I've heard [talking about the idea of robbing a bank]." Well, this one sounds like an intelligent one, eh? She seems like the typical dumb blonde. Its entertaining to me that they actually got away with this for awhile. They don’t seem to me like they would be capable of scheming up a plan that would be successful. They went to the wrong bank at first, for goodness sake. The only reason that they got away for a while was because they had a whole lot of luck. I have never really understood the whole stealing scenario. I know that I would never be able to enjoy something that I knew belonged to someone else. I would feel so guilty running around the mall, buying a cute little mini with money that wasn’t rightfully mine. I guess that they justified it by giving some of it to the homeless. Haha. Yeah, that’s a good one, girls, now when they catch you, they will take it easier on you because at least you were generous with the money that you stole.

Article from:
http://www.cnn.com/2007/LAW/05/18/barbie.bandits.ap/index.html
Picture from:
http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.theage.com.au/ffximage/2007/03/01/svBANDITS_wideweb__470x290,0.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.theage.com.au/news/world/barbie-bandits-get-a-giggle-out-of-bank-heist/2007/03/01/1172338795528.html&h=290&w=470&sz=17&hl=en&start=1&tbnid=_Ic1Yxfb8eguxM:&tbnh=80&tbnw=129&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dbarbie%2Bbandits%26gbv%3D2%26svnum%3D10%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DG

here would be the corresponding picture

after looking at emmas blog pictures, it was a toss up between this picture (that actually relates to my blog) or one of me and my uncle. haha

Ann's Blog on Seperation of church and state X2:

Ann’s Blog #4:

Louisiana school district sued over Bibles in school (cnn.com, May 18, 2007)

Here comes lawsuit numero cinco for a school district in New Orleans. In the last thirteen years, a certain school district has been sued five times about something religion-related. This time, the lawsuit is about the principle improperly giving Bibles to the students. The parents of a fifth grader filed this lawsuit when the found out that their fifth-grader had been given a Gideon Bible on school property during school hours. The name of the school is Loranger Middle School in Tangipohoa Parish. The upset parents are Catholic. Apparently, the little fifth grade girl was around some of her peers when they were all given these Bibles in front of the office. The people giving the Bibles to the students also said, “God bless you.” The little girl was afraid of getting laughed at or criticized so he accepted one. When her parents found out, they immediately phoned the principal and superintendent. There calls weren’t returned. This school was sued once before for allowing a ‘pizza preacher’ to come and give students pizza and teach Christianity over lunch period.

I think that I’ve kind of touched on this before in some of my blogs, but I don’t an any way, shape, or form, see this as a bad thing. Religion is the most fulfilling thing in my life. I don’t think that it is bad to expose people to other religions. I see it like this; there is no reason for these parents to be upset, because if they are Catholic then that means that they believe that Catholicism is the best religion so they shouldn’t feel threatened by other religions if ‘Catholicism is the best.’ Furthermore, how will they ever know that ‘Catholicism is the best’ if they aren’t exposed to other religions? It puzzles me that someone would make such a fuss over something like this. These parents are obviously religious, so shouldn’t they be happy that God is being allowed to be a part of their daughter’s school day? That can bring me to my STRONG opinion that separation of church and state isn’t quite the best thing. Religion is the best thing in my life…by far. It has filled a void in my life and given me so much joy. And the only reason that I am religious is because I was brought into it through my parents. I feel so sorry for those kids who have parents who haven’t taught them about God and his WONDERFUL LOVE. So this is where I think to myself…every kid has to go to school…what a great way to let kids dip their toes in religion. That doesn’t mean that they have to become as religious as other people, but I think that it is a good idea for them to be able to have a chance to be exposed to it. Wouldn’t you think? If I heard someone tell me about something that is the BEST THING IN THEIR LIFE, I would be curious to know at least a little about it. Why wouldn’t an atheist want to pick up the Bible that I try to live by and see why I get so much happiness and joy from it? And why shouldn’t they have the opportunity? School is the best place for that exposure. Everybody is there. It is only logical to me. There is an all girls Bible study twice a month at Jefferson that I go to and once me and my friends invited someone who had atheist parents and wasn’t religious. She came the first time and liked it, and then she came the next time, and the time after that, and she became a regular to CCLJ (cool chicks love Jesus). I am so happy that she was able to be exposed to my Lord. Anywho, I’m sure that many people would disagree with my standpoint, which they are entitled to do, but I just feel as though I am so lucky to have God in my life and I think that everyone deserves a chance to know Him the way that I do. The end.

Article From:
http://www.cnn.com/2007/EDUCATION/05/18/aclu.school.bibles.ap/index.html
Picture From:
http://images.google.com/images?um=1&tab=wi&hl=en&q=bibles

Ann's Blog on car crash

Ann’s Blog #3:

Sleeping driver kills 2, injures 4, police say (cnn.com, May 13, 2007)

In Southern Los Angeles, California on May 13, 2007 (AKA mother’s day!!) 6 people were waiting at a bus stop when an out of control vehicle came speeding into the area. Two women were sitting out selling flowers when the car flew into them, killing one and pinning the other against a wrought iron fence until some people came to help her get out. This woman is now in the nearest hospital in critical condition. Another 20-something man who’s collision with the car gave him severe head wounds. He was taken to the hospital where he died. Three other men were injured; one in critical condition. The driver was 21 and he had apparently fallen asleep at the wheel after working the night shift. He was also probably speeding. His condition (and name) is unknown.

Gol dang…this is so sad. The poor driver of this car who, I’m sure is wishing he could go back in time. I’m sure that he is kicking himself for not riding the bus or taking a taxi or drinking some caffeine. That would be so rough. This should be a lesson to all of us: things can happen SO fast, things that will forever change our lives. He is probably so full of grief and regret. His inattentiveness killed two people. On top of that, 4 more were injured. If you think about all of the friends and families that are connected to those six people, he has made a negative impact on so many peoples lives. Golly gee wiz, what a burden! I would be bawling from here to china. I got a speeding ticket and I was a wreck ahah, I can’t even imagine what sort of thoughts would be going through my head. It is scary how much everyone takes advantage of driving privileges. I once heard someone say, “I want to get drunk and then drive, just to see if I can do it.” Ummm…something is defiantly wrong with this picture. I’d say that this person, whom will not be named, doesn’t understand the concept of consequences of actions. Many people are guilty of that I think, even I am when I push the speed a little. Everybody thinks that they are invincible and that nothing bad could ever happen to them, which sooner or later, will cause some problems. I hope that I will be able to learn without killing people. That would not be fun.

Article from:
http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/05/13/pedestrians.struck.ap/index.html
Picture from:
http://images.google.com/images?svnum=10&um=1&hl=en&q=bus+stop

Blog #2:

“Boy, 10, guilty of beating homeless Army veteran” (cnn.com, May 10, 2007)
In Daytona, Florida a ten year old boy beat a homeless man up so badly that he will need reconstructive surgery. The homeless man’s name is John D'Amico and he is 58 years old. On March 27 D’Amico and a friend were walking through a neighborhood in Daytona Beach when two ten year old boys and a seventeen year old crossed paths with them. Then the three kids beat up D’Amico and attacked him with a concrete block. The boys claimed that D’Amico provoked them, which caused them to do their misdeed. But the Circuit Judge John Watson found the one ten year old guilty and gave him a sentence that will be in effect on May 24. The boy’s future doesn’t look very bright. He could be in the juvenile center until he turns 21. Other options for the boy are probation or counseling. But the judge wasn’t going to cut him any slack. He was showing obvious concern about what could happen if he were to do something like this again. The little boys mother is very upset. The seventeen year old could face up to 15 years in prison. The homeless man was an army veteran.

I have so much sympathy for this poor old man. First of all, a 58 year old man would never be able to defend himself very well against anybody youthful. I don’t understand how A TEN YEAR OLD could be so violent and evil. A ten year old doesn’t know anything, they are still young and naive and supposedly innocent. But apparently not. I don’t understand how cruel a person would have to be to attack an old homeless man. I’m pretty sure that that man has been through enough in his life. If there was ever a gleam of hope in this homeless mans eyes, I would be willing to bet that it is gone. Hearing about this incident even takes away some of my hope in the world. I am ashamed, and frustrated that a human could do something so terrible. What did this man ever do to him? There is no excuse. Even if he had threatened, the kids could have called for help or ran away. But instead (if he were to have threatened them) they only sunk down to his level. They did the easy thing; they did not do the honorable thing. There is never any excuse for damaging the life of anyone, especially an old man, especially an HOMELESS old man. Then theres the fact that he was an army veteran and we have learned about this in school and the aftereffects of physically going to war and seeing all of the evils in the world. I have heard stories about people being amazing, involved, successful people before the draft and then after they go to war, the posttraumatic stress ruins their life. Obviously this man has not had an easy life. Just that alone is enough for me to tear up about. I wish that I could help him and people like him somehow. Even without the attack story, I would be able to type an entire blog about people like him. Homeless people are one of the biggest things that break my heart. There is a song that is recently released and it is called ‘Moments’ and, when reading this article, I was reminded of it and I think it relates so here are the lyrics:
I was coming to the end of a long long walk When a man crawled out of a cardboard box Under the E Street Bridge followed me on to it I went out halfway across with that homeless shadow tagging along So I dug for some change - wouldn't need it anyway He took it looking just a bit ashamed He said you know I haven't always been this way I've had my moments Days in the sun, moments I was second to none, moments When I knew I did what I thought I couldn't do Like that plane ride, coming home from the war That summer, my son was born Memories, like a coat so warm the cold wind cant get through Looking at me now you might not know it But I've had my moments Well I stood there trying to find my nerve Wondering if a single soul on earth would care at all Miss me when I'm gone That old man just kept hanging around Looking at me, looking down I think he recognized That look in my eyes Standing with him there I felt ashamed I said you know I haven't always been this way I've had my moments Days in the sun, moments I was second to none, moments When I knew I did what I thought I couldn't do Like the day I, walked away from the wineFor a woman, who became my wife And a love that, when it was right could always see me through Looking at me know you might not know it I've had my moments I know somewhere around a trash can fire tonight That old man tells his story One more time He says, I've had my moments Days in the sun, moments I was second to none, moments When I knew I did what I thought I couldn't do Like that cool night, on the E Street Bridge When a young man, almost ended it I was right there, wasn't scared a bit And I helped to pull him through Looking at me now you might not know it Oh - looking at me now you might not know it I've had my moments
This song has a very cool message. A sad, scary message. One lesson that I get out of it is that you should never judge a person by what they seem to be because everybody has a past and the other is that you should never take things for granted because someday they might be gone and you may be left with nothing but the memories of the ‘moments’. HOLEY LONG BLOG!!! Hope you enjoy, Mr. Meyer!!! Ahah
Article from:
http://www.cnn.com/2007/LAW/05/10/homeless.beating.ap/index.html
Picture from: http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&q=homeless+man&btnG=Search+Images&gbv=2