South Korea has reason to blame North Korea for torpedoing their ship. It is said that Kim Jung Ill knew all about the ship being torpedoed which makes the U.S. and South Korea think that North Korea think they did it. The hatred between South Korea and North Korea has been going on since the 1950's. That is when the Korean war started, and that split the Koreas. Since then there have been several wars, but it has been calm the past few years until now. The U.S. should side with South Korea because we have better relations with them and a better history. If you blame a country for something, but you don’t know who did it for sure, that is just taking a risk for further hatred from that country in the future. Then you have worse relations with that country, therefore other countries have to step in and help out if there are issues at the border or on the water, like in this situation.

For the first time in Phillies Baseball History, a fan that ran on the field was hit with a taser gun. The fan ran out during the eighth inning of the game on May fourth against the St. Luis Cardinals. Usually when out of fans run onto the field, they are wrestled to the ground by security. Not in this case. The fan took a few laps around center field, with the police in tight pursuit. After being shot at multiple times, they hit him. The boy was helped off the field after being tasered, which is easy to believe you would need help after getting hit by 55 volts of electricity. Because at 80 volts of electricity- you’re dead. They are calling this an “improper use of equipment” which is true because even if this is a crime, the equipment didn’t need to be used because it was a 17 year old male, and they wouldn’t have had to use much force to bring him down. The boy couldn’t have been drinking, so I’m not entirely sure what prompted the boy to run on the field. He is being charged with criminal trespass. But even still they can’t release the boys name due to him being a juvenile.
They are still discussing whether or not the stun gun was appropriate for use. Steve Consalvi was the boy’s name. The security guard might lose his job, because even though it is a crime to jump on the field during a game, he wasn’t trying to harm anyone. If Steve was trying to get close or harm one of the players, I would say use the taser as soon as he got near one of them. But since he was just running around trying to get a laugh out of the other 44,817 fans or just trying to be remembered on TV for a while, there is no reason that you can’t wrestle him down. I would like to see it and how it went because I haven’t ever seen anyone after being hit with a taser gun. My Driver’s Ed. teacher was just explaining yesterday about what happens when you get hit. He said you go down almost instantly. And by the looks of it he was just about right. St. Luis ended up winning that game, sadly. I would think this would distract both teams majorly.

New Laws in Michigan

The new smoking law in Michigan is taking effect in all restaurants and bars. No person will be allowed to smoke in or around a restaurant or bar. This doesn’t affect my family to much because none of us smoke. Though it will make the air more clean so we won’t have to deal with the bad smells. I like this law and think it should have been put into effect earlier so we could clean our air. But no one wanted this passed. There are certain people that I know will object to this law, but they have to know how bad smoking is for you.
My parents have always objected to all the smoke in restaurants, there have even been some nights when we had to leave because the thickness of the smoke in the air was terrible. I honestly hate the smell of someone smoking. I can’t stand it. Now I won’t have to deal with it when I go out to eat, that makes me feel better. But if I am just walking around and there is someone smoking then that is fine, I can deal with it for a few seconds while I pass them.

The new texting while driving law is all over Michigan. I am making sure that my sister knows it because she always is texting. This texting law is for anyone that texts when driving, they will be issued a 100 dollar fine the first time, and 200 dollars the second. Governor Granholm just signed the bill today. My sister’s friend brought up a good point yesterday. “How do they know you were texting, I mean if they didn’t see you, they could just pull you over for no reason and say you were texting even if you just looked down.” Caite is somewhat right I think. It’s hard to tell if someone was texting.
I don’t drive. And if I did, I most likely wouldn’t text anyone. My dad is always on his phone no matter what but he has a blue tooth so he can just press a button and he doesn’t need to hold his phone. Occasionally he will check his email. My sister just got her license at the beginning of the summer and she does text while she drives but it is at a red light or a complete stop. I’m not too worried about the law with my family, and I don’t see it too often on the road.

Indonesia

If the United States occupied Pakistan, to secure nuclear weapons, Indonesia would side with Pakistan. The history between the two countries is better than the relations between the United States and Indonesia. Pakistan and Indonesia go back to when Indonesia was trying to get independence from the Dutch and Japanese people. Pakistan solider were volunteers and wanted to help Indonesia. Also Pakistan citizens have settled and continue to work in Indonesia today. The main religion in both countries is mainly Muslim, and that gives the two a greater connection.

The United States has had a problem with Pakistan and Indonesia for quite a while. This means that even if the United States is correct about the nuclear weapons, Indonesia is more than likely going to side with the country they have more in common with, Also a country that has helped them more. Indonesia is not opposing the United States. They are just siding with the side that they believe is right. Pakistan has as much right as the United States to have weapons like that. The United States doesn’t have to control every country. Its unfair that they have so much power and use it against every country. Pakistan wont use their weapons, they just have them, Just like the United States. What if china or Russia came in to the United states and had control over their weapons? It is the same issue.

Life of Pi

In my book, the Life of Pi, the author uses all of the grammar and sentence changes we have learned so far. The author starts out talking about Pi’s life and how he grew up with a more religious family. This ends up being his major in college. He had just started his second year in college. The author surely feels that he needs to give information in the first few chapters, especially because we as readers know nothing about Pi. The author uses sentence branches, dashes, commas, semi-colons, paragraphs, and word extension all in the first two chapters. He uses this to inform the reader. The sentence branches give the extra information usually needed for small details.
In the next few paragraphs the author starts to go into Pi’s life in true detail, starting with his life in school, and all the people there that he meets. This chapter he uses paragraphs a lot, every four to nine sentences. But as I noticed he writes out numbers instead of using the symbol. I learned this in my language arts class at the beginning of the year and I had never been told that before. It is more useful and it is easier to read I think. Then the author continues on to a short chapter. This confused me but later on I realized why. It was a short chapter, about two paragraphs of a letter that was written. This letter also used the semi-colon, but not to much else.
Another thing I noticed in the first half of my book, after they went into detail about Pi’s life, there was a lot of dialogue between Pi, his teachers and new friends. Most authors use this but it is a good strategy to show the reader what is happening. When you use dialogue the paragraphs are usually shorter, because after every speaker, a new paragraph is formed.

Last summer my dad rented a boat, a light blue thirty two foot boat, for us to take out on Lake Michigan, it wasn’t a huge boat, but it was fun. We started off early in the morning; we had the boat all day. My family and I arrived to the harbor where they held the boat around eight in the morning. It was hard waking up because it was the middle of summer and I wasn’t used to waking up before twelve… still I got up because I was so excited. See I really like boats, and I know just about everything about them. The boat my dad rented happened to be the same manufacturer as our other boat. Monterey, but this was a thirty two foot boat with a cabin. We took the boat out to Charlevoix, which is where we normally go. The rest of the day was just a joy ride. My dad has always wanted to get a large boat like that; but he hasn’t gotten himself to do that just yet. I wish he would because my biggest hobby besides playing basketball is learning about boats. After Charlevoix, we anchored out of the harbor near Charlevoix and just layed there, kind of boring if you ask me. All I wanted to do was drive the boat. Finally after about an hour my dad asked me if I wanted to drive the boat. Jumping up as fast as I could, I raced to the driver’s seat. I felt like a true captain. I got my boaters license when I was twelve, which allowed me to drive up to a fifty five foot boat without a parent. But since my dad didn’t want to take the boat back just yet, he told me just to drive slow because he couldn’t think of anything else that we could do out on the water. Now I’m an anxious person, and I’m like Ricky bobby. I love to go fast and I really wanted to. But I had to restrain myself so I wouldn’t get in trouble. Going at a measly ten miles an hour, I almost fell asleep as the driver, so my dad had to take over. I went up to the top of the boat where there was a place to lay out. My sister took up most of the spot, and so I just went out to the bow and acted like I was on the titanic. At the end of the day though, I had an amazing time, though I didn’t get to go fast.

Olympic Games

The United States is doing great in the Olympics so far. With 28 metals total we hold first place. Now everyone knows we are amazing at hockey. The long hours that teams put into practice. But when you combine all that together into one team, of the best players in the United States, you can say it’s not an option to lose. So the United States hockey team is already in the semi finals. They have beaten Canada and Switzerland. The United States has not beaten Canada in hockey in the Olympics in sixty years. That ended. Now it is time for the United States to step up and continue to win.

The team’s roster consists of twice the amount of people on a regular hockey team. And you all want to know how many are from Detroit right? Sadly, Brian Rafalski stands alone to make his mark for the red wings. Also he was invited to the Team USA summer orientation. But that’s a whole other story. After defeating Canada, I was shocked. The place where hockey is a religion basically was beat. But Canada is still in the semi finals along with the United States. And now onto Switzerland.

This game was cool. I was sitting at home finishing up my homework, and my little brother turned on the last two periods of the game. At 11.3 seconds, the United States put it away for another win by only two goals. One of which was an open net. I did not see this but I have heard about a huge collision between two of the players. From the way it was told it sounded so cool! I’m sorry but I love games with big hits and fights. After the first goal my friend freaked out. But then he got a little worried because they could catch up. Then Switzerland pulled their goalie. And that just about did it. All we needed was a fast break or a shot. And that’s when we got put up to the semi finals.

Now tell me, do you think Finland is scared? Or even ready to play the United States? Because I don’t. I think we have the ability to go all the way to the finals and win. Not to criticize or say they are bad, I just think the United States is a better team. On the twenty sixth, will start the semi finals, hopefully ending well for the United States.

My Fun Adventure

My Fun Adventure
A long time ago… very long ago… in fact I was only five… I got a cut. Not just your average scrape. No I got the big, gushing, deep cut. It made me get five stitches. But this is how it happened… I was in a crazy bike chase with a cop! And he was gaining on me, I needed to get away. See I had taken my friends toy and he called the police. I completely destroyed the cop’s car. He had to get on a bike and come after me because I wasn’t going to stop. But I wasn’t fast enough. Even though the cop had bad knees and couldn’t ride a bike for his life, I was only five!
My friend was already out of energy from chasing me. But I was getting tired too; I had to find a place to hide and fast… good thing we were right next to my house! I ran inside and went to the back yard hid in the bushes. No one has ever found me in there. But the cop did! He was hot on my tracks and I needed to haul to get away from him! It was a Saturday in the summer, and we have people that come and do the lawn for our neighbors. Well they have a big ramp at the end of their truck. I’m weird and thought it would be a good idea to try and jump the ramp… I didn’t notice the cord that blocks things from falling. My bikes front wheel got caught in the cord, and you can basically say I went head over heels for that cop… awkward. Well I fell right on a crack and the cop tried to stop me but he fell too.
My dad came running outside after he heard the screaming, and he thought I was seriously injured. But I wasn’t screaming… it was the cop. Well I had a huge cut through me lip and my tooth came through it too. Even though the cop was hurt too, my dad told him to take care of himself and so my dad took me to the hospital. It was a tough day and I won. The cop came to my bed after I had gotten my stitches and told me what I did was wrong. Before he left he talked to my dad for a while. Later on my dad came to my bedside and said he had good news and bad news. Good news was the surgery went good and the cop happened to be my dad’s best friend. Bad news was they found out during the surgery that I needed to get my tonsils out… it was a fun day… for the most part.

Turkish girl, 16, buried alive for talking to boys

Why is there a punishment that bad for talking to boys? It could just be the way the parents want it, but why would they want that?

Now I’m not saying this is right, but the parents could have been talking to her about boys and not wanting her to associate with them. This could be the way Turkish people want it until a certain age. But to bury your child in a hole alive, which is beyond anything that I have ever heard. It is told that in turkey alone, there are two hundred of these so called “honor” killings each year. That is a lot. This is a sixteen year old girl who talked to a guy, after being warned. My sister who is also sixteen has never been talked to about talking to guys. Things might go different in turkey, or maybe it was what she was talking about… I’m not sure.

Basically what I am saying is that what happened in turkey was wrong. No matter how often that happens it should stop. To put a girl, still living, at sixteen in a hole and shoving soil down her throat and covering her until she dies is just too much. I am surprised that even though this seems like a culture problem, that no one has stepped in to try and stop these honor killings. The cultures around the world are different, but when it involves killing people or anything of that nature, something should be done.

Three paragraphs

The power of one

I was very surprised about this movie. Even though my teachers both said how great it was, I still wasn’t too sure. This is the kind of movie that I like. The kind that grabs you right from the start and continues to get better. Also this movie has different parts, kind of like different moments in the boy’s life. Multiple times there was action, which I like. But also the movie had very sad parts; I won’t give it away though… you have to watch it. Over all the movie was better than the other movies we watched though the semester, the part that I found most interesting was when the young boy was sent to the German school. Being a Dutch boy I can agree that it would be a hard time for him. The Dutch and German did not get along well. So he was bullied and treated badly by everyone including some of the teachers. But also the teachers were preaching all the things the boy had learns opposite, and that would be confusing for an eight year old. When all of his family members died, I felt bad for him and then he was sent to live with multiple other people through out the rest of his life. When he was older and became a boxer, he wasn’t afraid to be on the “other side” of South Africa. Even if it could get him in a lot of trouble. After, he was referred to as the “rainmaker” and I though that was cool because that was kind of an honor for him.

Christmas traditions

In my family we have many traditions. One of them is being together at every holiday we can. But one of the biggest, and one of my most favored memories is the play that four of my cousins and I put on. We did this every year for about five or six years… then we got too old. But every year at thanksgiving, my cousins and I got together and wrote a play. And we printed a copy for everyone. So we had from thanksgiving until Christmas Eve to learn the lines and memorize them. That’s right, we got so into it we hat to memorize the lines. Then on Christmas Eve we would go to the basement and set up sets and figure out costumes. This would take hours for us. Then as another tradition, before the play we would go to church, come home and eat. After the delicious food we would shuffle everyone from the upstairs to the basement. We had legit lights and the curtains and we would have music, and a few times we even videotaped them! The play would be on average forty five minuets. We had intermissions and set changes and everything. That’s surprising because we were all ages twelve, eleven, ten, and nine. Me being the youngest, I didn’t get the biggest role. But the second youngest got to be Santa Claus! I was his little helper. Well our plays always would succeed, and we got standing ovations every time… it might be because they were our family. That is one of my biggest memories and traditions.

New Years Eve

Being new to the high schools, I didn’t know that much. But at our church we have a high school youth group. And without our leaders we have a party every year on New Years Eve. This was my first one, and I have a sister that is a junior and she decided to have it at my house this year. Great! A new youth group and I get to stay home! Well it all started off good, because I knew all the kids very well. My sister let me hangout with them during eighth grade and that summer, so I know them. Well we were hanging out eating food having fun, and then it got to ten. My parents challenged the two college kids, Eddie and Tim, to a game of euchre. And they went one and one starting off the New Year so they need a tie breaker. The rest of the night was filled with laughs and food and jokes. Some of the bad things that happened it 2009 for me would be… not making the basketball team, having two of my grandpa’s die, one of them the last week of eighth grade. But the up side is being able to hangout and is with family and friends. This year I am looking forward to going to Florida and hanging out with my cousins for the summer. Also the mission trip for church. Going to church and youth group every week is always fun for me.