New Year

What is one thing that you would like to do different in the New Year? Please remember this is a school blog and your comments should be writen to reflect that. Thank you and have a great break.

break

What are you going to do for Christmas break?

Cold

What is too cold? This morning it was -17 degrees in Aberdeen and it is only going to get colder this winter. What temperature is too cold for you?

S.D

What did you do on your snow day?

Help

What can we do to help other people for a better Christmas?

Santa

Do you believe in Santa?? Why or Why Not. Do you think that it is good that parents tell they kids that their is a Santa

Concert

Do you feel that the whole school should go to the middle school concert or not?? Explain your answer.

Snow Day

Do you think that we should have gotten a snow day?? Explain your answer. Should we ever have a snow day?

Bail-out

Do you feel it is right that the big three might get a bail out from the government?

Gifts

What is the reason for giving presents at Christmas??? When did it start?

Cell Phone Law

Aberdeen has passed a cell phone law. Do you think it is a good think or a bad thing and you can't have cell phones while you are driving?

Awards

What are the two awards that Obama wom at the music awards?? How do you feel about it?

Obama

Name one new person that Obama appointed to his cabinet? Why?

Black Friday

Why do they call it Black Friday? And what is the Monday (today) after Thanksgiving known as??? Why are these such big days??

Deer Seasons

Why does Brown County give out so many deer tags every year? What is a benefit and a draw back?

State

Former Senator Tom Daschle was appointed Secretary of Health and Human Services by Obama. Now who did Senator Obama appoint to Secretary of State and what do you think it is going to mean for this country?

Elect

Who was the South Dakotan appoint by the president elect Obama? What office was it? Why is this an important office?

Diseases

What is something that you can do to prevent sickness from spreading around your home and work space?

Pink

What did it mean to you to wear a pink shirt today?

Science Fair

What is the point of having students do science fair projects? What are they suppose to learn from it?

cell phones

Is it true that a cell phone call pop popcorn? If so what do you think it is doing to you?

Ads

Obama and McCain are now running more negative ads then positive ads. Does Negative stuff change your mind fast then the Positive stuff?

YouTube

YouTube in no longer 100% free... At one time the site would offer videos 100% free but now some clips you have to pay for. Do you think that is right or not?

Solve it

We have all heard a lot about the different species that are becoming extinct. The climate is changing and the Earth is going through some type of phase. If you could be the person that came up with the solution to all these problems, what would our solution be?

Climate focus 'good news for species'

VIEWPOINT
Russell Mittermeier

Climate change could actually benefit some of the world's most endangered species, says Conservation International president Russell Mittermeier. In this week's Green Room, he explains that conservationists should capitalise on the worldwide attention being given to global warming.

To read the full story go to http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7656782.stm


How do you feel about this topic?

Mammals facing extinction threat

At least 25% of the world's mammal species are at risk of extinction, according to the first assessment of their status for a decade.

By Richard Black
Environment correspondent, BBC News website, Barcelona

You can read the full if you want, it is good. How do you feel to know that 25% of thw world's mammals are at risk?

Sickness

Why does it seem when one person gets sick that everyone in the school gets sick? What can you do to prevent illness from infecting you?

Air

South Dakota found to have some of the cleanest air in the country. Why is this? What have we done in our state to make the air so clean?

Technology

Tell me about one new piece of technology that you have learned about in the past six months. This could be anything that you have found on the internet as well.

Speaker

What did you think of the speaker today? What did you learn from the speaker? Do you think it is something that our school should go to again?

Died

Go to MyPyramid.gov and look at the food pyramid for you. Where you shocked about the area that you fell into or not? Is there something that you can do to help improve your diet?

What do you think?

Do you think that Bush should help bailout Wall Street or not?

Energy

Why are we looking so closely at the energy policy of the Presidential Candide's?

Games

Should teachers use more on-line game to help their students to learn?

Saving Time

What is the point of daylight savings time?

The Weather

Can you explain to me why every town around us got snow and we didn't? What happened in the weather to cause the lack of snow in our area?

Earth Day

Earth Day is April 22 this year. How did Earth Day start, why say it been such a big hit lately, and why should we be involved with Earth Day?

Are Plastics Bad for You

Recycle, Reduce, Reuse. The is the GREEN motto, but is it always safe? A study has come out that states that using recycled bottoms with 3,6,7 on them are unsafe because they have harmful chemicals that are given off and ingested by us. They also say that plastics with a 1 should only be used one time. So tell me what chemicals are given off by the plastics 3,6,and 7, and why can you only use plastic 1 one time?

Myspace

Tell me is this right or wrong. Six girls where arrested for beating up a girls for 30 minutes over what this girls said on Myspace. The girls video taped the attack and don't believe that they should be in jail right now because this girl got what was coming to her. Was violence the answer?

This Day in History

Forty years ago today a great man was shot. How was this man and what did he do for our country?

Vaccine-autism question divides parents, scientists

People have been looking in the MMR vaccine as a cause of some causes of autism. Research is being done to see if the mercury-containing preservative found in the vaccines can drastically alter the course of a child's development and result in autism. Is it safe to vaccinate your children or not? What do you think?

CNN.com for full story

R.R.R

What do you think that we can do as a school to help Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle to help make the community of Warner a Greener Place to live?

Earth Day

Earth Day is just around the corner and what is something that you could do to help the environment that wouldn't be a big change to your lifestyle?

Too Far

What is too far on airport security? A person got searched this last week and was asked to remove a piercing in public but refused. How are we going to make are airports safe for travelers and still prevent tourists?

YouTube gets feed back

YouTube is going in depth on their videos. Why do you think it is important for a site like YouTube to give feedback to someone like you on your videos with blogs, the amount of viewers, etc.... What is your overall opinion on YouTube?

What

Does belly fat cause dementia?

Bullying

On the Today Show they had a boy who was talking about bullying. Do you think that bullying is a problem at our school or not, explain?

Politics

Politics in the U.S are all over the news. Should these people be allowed to make mistakes or should we hold everything against them? What is your opinion?

Spring

Well spring is finally here and snow is on the ground again. What is the reason that we seem to get snow almost every year around the beginning of spring?

The First Day of Spring

Today is the first day of spring. Explain how this is determined.

Nature vs Nurture

There is a new study out that states that obesity is due to complex genetic make-up of an individual. But is it really the genetic make-up or do we just eat too much? Nature vs. Nurture

The Dollar

What is the value of the dollar and how is this going to affect your futures if things don't change?

St. Pat's Day

Should Saint Patrick's Day because a national holiday, why or why not?

STD Data Come as No Surprise, Area Teenagers Say

Hader and other public health officials said a large number of young people have unprotected sex, many with multiple partners. In a 2007 study by the D.C. public school system, 60 percent of high schoolers and 30 percent of middle schoolers reported having had intercourse. Twenty percent of the high school students said they had had sex with four or more people, and 12 percent of the middle schoolers said they had had three or more partners.

Officials said many teenagers aren't aware that birth control measures, such as the pill or the patch, don't protect against STDs.

Here is something scary, did you know that 1-4 girls between the ages of 14-18 in South Dakota have an STD we don't know males because they don't test for HPV. What are you doing to protect your self and do you see this as a problem for your state? What can we do to fix it?

Video games

What is your feeling on video games? Are the harmful or helpful for young people to be playing? Why or Why not?

News Today

The big thing on the news today is that Clinton wants Obama to be here V.P. What do you think about that and how would you feel if the two top Democrats joined forces and formed one ticket?

A Healthy Lifestyle

Getting fit and staying healthy is very important and we are seeing more and more Americans are having a problem maintaining a healthy lifestyle. Let me know what you do to keep your self healthy.

A Lunar Eclipse

What is a lunar eclipse? Did you know what there will be a visible lunar eclipse tomorrow night?

Having a bad day

Did you ever think to your self I'm having a bad day? Well take a look at the vedio below and see what a day in this guys life if like?

Tell me something that you learned from this vedio.

http://www.dor.ca.gov/rd_video.htm

A Baby Dinosaur, 72 Million Years Old

Scientists Find New Species in Mexico, With Unusual Skull
By NED POTTER
Feb. 13, 2008 —
The Mexican state of Coahuila, due west of the southern tip of Texas, is arid country today. But 72 million years ago it was a tropical paradise, warm and moist, close to a vast sea that divided what eventually became North America.
Now, scientists report they have found a new dinosaur species there -- one of the very few ever discovered in Mexico.
It was apparently a duck-billed plant eater, probably about 25 feet long. Scientists hesitate to guess too much about it, but they say they can tell from its bone structure that it was probably not fully grown. An adult of the species could have been 10 feet longer.

ABC News

Wow, to think we are discovering new species almost everyday. Why is it possible not only to find new types of dinosaur but new species of life on earth?

Eating Disorders

In the news this morning there was a program on eating disorders. They talked about a ten year old that had anorexia, she was lucky enough to get treatment and she is getting better now. Do you think that this is a big problem in our country? What can be do to change this problem?

You can view the story at http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032633/

Retainl Therapy

Studies have done research to show that people spent more money this time of year because they are feeling a little blue, "depressed". Is this a trent that you see in the US, or should we say money solves problems?

Studies Warn Biofuel Crops Could Accentuate Global Warming

By Dee Chisamera 14:15, February 8th 2008

Just one month ago, a study conducted by a team of American researchers concluded that there was nothing more environmental-friendly than the biofuel crops, that could reduce the greenhouse gas emissions by 94% and produce five times more energy. New studies however warn that by transforming the various ecosystems into biofuel crop fields would only accentuate the global warming phenomenon rather than reducing it. According to the latest estimations, converting natural ecosystems into biofuel crop fields is likely to release up to 420 times more carbon.

Are we really doing what is best for the enirvonment by using alternate fuels or are we just delaying what we have already put into motion.

Saving Puppies

Did you know that South Dakota has puppy mills? What is a puppy mile and why are they such a bad thing?

Saving Puppies

Did you know that South Dakota has puppy mills? What is a puppy mills and why are they such a bad thing?

Health Care

The United States is the only industrialized country that does not have a national health care plan. What would it mean to the United States to develop a National Health Care Plan? Is this something that will be important to you in five years?

Democrats in dead heat going into Super Tuesday

It is a race to the finish line right now in the Democratic Party with Clinton and Obama neck and neck, but who will come out on top after this Super Tuesday? That is the question only the voters can answer, so if you could vote who would you vote for in this election race? I guess we will all find out tomorrow who will win this race.

Study Sees Hazards in Baby Powder and Lotion

Parents who want to reduce their infants' exposure to phthalates, chemicals suspected of impairing male reproductive function, should not apply baby lotions or powders -- except for medical reasons. So concludes a study published in the journal Pediatrics

Is exposing our children to chemicals going to hurt us in the long run or is it just another study to get parents worked up?

Hurricane Hysteria

There has been an increase in hurricanes in the past two years. Some say it is because of global warming and other say it is a cycle that our planet is going through. What do you believe is causing the increase in hurricanes?

Video of workers abusing cows raises food safety questions

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The Humane Society of the United States released a video Wednesday it says shows mistreatment of "downed" cows at a California slaughterhouse -- and one lawmaker said it raises questions about the safety of the nation's food supply.

The video shows Hallmark Meat Packing Co. workers administering repeated electric shocks to downed cows -- animals that are too sick, weak or otherwise unable to stand on their own. Workers are seen kicking cows, jabbing them near their eyes, ramming them with a forklift and shooting high-intensity water up their noses in an effort to force them to their feet for slaughter.
The society says the video was shot last year by an undercover investigator who wore a hidden camera under his clothes when he worked at the facility.

Downed cows are more easily contaminated and may carry diseases harmful to consumers. U.S. Department of Agriculture regulations prohibit allowing disabled or contaminated animals into the food supply. Officials said they would investigate.

What do you think of this story?

Va. Senate Backs Phaseout of Trans Fats in School Food

By Sandhya Somashekhar and Annie GowenWashington Post Staff Writers Wednesday, January 30, 2008; Page B01
RICHMOND, Jan. 29 -- The Virginia Senate voted unanimously Tuesday to phase out the use of artery-clogging trans fats in food sold at public schools, from the cheese pizza in the cafeteria to the chips in the vending machine.

The bill would direct the state superintendent of public instruction to develop guidelines for the elimination of the additive, which has been associated with heart disease, in meals and snacks sold during school hours.

We are now controlling the foods that are served in our school but is it really enough to stop the obesity problem in the U.S?

Satellite unlikely to pose danger to humans

By Andrea Shalal-Esa
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A disabled U.S. spy satellite is likely to break into small pieces when it falls to Earth within weeks, posing little danger to humans, U.S. government officials and space experts said on Monday.

Most, if any, debris that survives the intense heat of re-entry would likely fall into the oceans, which cover more than 70 percent of the Earth, White House National Security Council spokesman Gordon Johndroe said.

What could happen if more satellites where disabled and fell to the Earth?

Entire Synthetic Genome Created

John Roachfor National Geographic News
January 25, 2008

Scientists yesterday announced that they have successfully created an entire synthetic genome in the lab by stitching together the DNA of the smallest known free-living bacterium, Mycoplasma genitalium.
Experts are hailing the research as an important breakthrough in genetic manipulation that will one day lead to the "routine" creation of synthetic genomes—possibly including those of mammals.

Step Toward Artificial Life
The new work is an important second step in a three-step process to the creation of synthetic life, said research leader Hamilton Smith, a biologist and Nobel laureate at the J. Craig Venter Institute in Rockville, Maryland.
The first step, reported last year by the same team at Venter's institute, was the successful transplantation of a genome from one species of bacteria into another, effectively switching the bug's identity.
"The third step, which we're working on now, is to take the chemically synthesized DNA, which is in the test tube, and get it into a bacterium where it can take over and produce a synthetic cell," Smith said.

Is the creation of life something that is ethical correct or are we playing ball way over our heads?

Geophysicists Urge Steep Cuts in Greenhouse Gas Emissions

The American Geophysical Union says massive reductions in greenhouse gases will be needed—and scientists should speak up about it
By David Biello

The scientists of the American Geophysical Union (AGU) warn that greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions must be slashed in half to keep temperatures from rising 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit (2 degrees Celsius)—or else. "Warming greater than 2 degrees Celsius above 19th-century levels is projected to be disruptive, reducing global agricultural productivity, causing widespread loss of biodiversity and—if sustained over centuries—melting much of the Greenland ice sheet with ensuing rise in sea levels of several meters," the AGU declares in its first statement in four years on "Human Impacts on Climate."

Is this really a problem or not? What can we do to help save our environment?

Entrepreneur Unveils New Tourist Spacecraft

By JOHN SCHWARTZ
Published: January 23, 2008

Burt Rutan took the cloak off of his new spacecraft on Wednesday.
Mr. Rutan, the creator of SpaceShipOne, the first privately financed craft to carry a human into space, traveled to New York to show detailed models of the bigger SpaceShipTwo and its carrier airplane, WhiteKnightTwo.

The vehicle is meant to open space to a new generation of spacefarers who are more creative than the classically trained astronauts, Mr. Rutan said. And that will bring with it a new way of looking at space travel, just as personal computing opened up the use of computers from a military and academic tool to something that transformed the world.

Full story in the New York Times.

Would you like to ride on a space ship and see space. Or do you feel this could be a bad idea.

Drive-by pharming attack hits home

Posted by Robert Vamosi

Whenever you type an address into an Internet browser, that address is instantly resolved into the site's numerical Internet address by a DNS server located somewhere in the world. On Tuesday, Symantec announced that online criminals have started to remotely redirect your home network router's DNS server so that whenever you type in a financial institution or other trusted site, your browser will instead be redirected to a bogus or phishing Web site.

The practice, called pharming, usually attacks the DNS servers directly, but this latest attack brings it all home (if you are using broadband connectivity). Fortunately, the routers and institutions affected by this current attack are limited to one country, Mexico, but Symantec warns that word of this real-world attack could bring similar attacks elsewhere.

Last year, researchers at Symantec and the University of Indiana reported that remotely changing a home router's DNS server was theoretically possible. The theoretical attack used Javascript on a specially crafted Web page, and affected only wireless routers. The attack in use today uses e-mail, and it can affect non-wireless routers as well.

Are computers really safe?

Turkey Bans YouTube, Again

Chris Peredun - January 21, 2008 2:52 PM

In what is becoming a bit of a recurring event, YouTube has once again found itself banned from Turkey for having clips available that insult the first president and founding father Mustafa Kemal Ataturk.

"Insulting Turkishness" is a criminal act in Turkey, and even being able to view the objectionable video was deemed enough to warrant a ban on the entire site. The supposed clip in question compares Ataturk with a monkey, and attempting to browse to the YouTube homepage from anywhere within Turkey results in an error stating "Access to this web site has been suspended in accordance with decision no: 2008/55 of T.R. Ankara 12th Criminal Court of Peace."At least 65 people -- including many journalists and writers -- have been charged with "insulting Turkishness" since the introduction of the law in June of 2005. The law calls for a sentence of between six months and three years in prison for "anyone who openly denigrates the government, judicial institutions or military or police structures" -- or even mentioning past transgressions of the nation, such as the Armenian massacres or Kurdish questioning.

What are your thoughts on this?

YouTube Leads to Arrest

To gang members were arrested after posting a video on YouTube taunting the Miami Dade Police Department.

Is this right that you should be able to be convicted of a federal crime for posting a video on YouTube?

'Big climate impact' on UK coasts

Higher CO2 levels in the atmosphere are making oceans warmer and more acidic, affecting plankton, fish and birds. Explain why the higher carbon dioxide levels would be affecting the coast of UK so much.

Today's Mercury Flyby To Be the First Since 1974

Right around noon today, if all goes as planned, a spacecraft called Messenger will swoop past the planet Mercury and begin two days of unprecedented picture-taking and data-collecting.

The flyby, the first visit to Mercury in more than 33 years by an emissary from Earth, will mark a key moment in a NASA mission that will ultimately place the first satellite into orbit around the tiny planet that sits closest to the sun. Full story at TheWashingtonPost. com

What does this tells us about the technology that we now hold and what could it mean for the future.

Second Semester

Well it is second semester and it is flying by. What is something that you are looking forward to this semester?

How was your break?

What did you do for fun over the break?