Inside the Teenage Brain

Based on the Frontline documentary "Inside the Teenage Brain," please create a response blog based on your thoughts and observations about the film. Make sure the include details from the film. 

Due Monday, Nov. 2

Television blackout feud

In New York City there is a dispute between the companies Cablevision and News Production. This feud is the about the fact that Cablevision needs to pay more to gain access to News Productions programs. News Productions feels they deserve more money. While Cablevision says that in order to give more money they would have to raise the customers cable bills. Also, Cablevision feel that right now companies shouldn't be taking more money from people that have so little in this depression.

A big problem with this feud is the network FOX has been in a blackout of programing, which can be very bad because the World Series is coming up this week and FOX network is covering it. Much of the New York area would not be able to see it if the dispute is not resolved before. This is hurting both companies, but this is not all bad for everyone, other cable companies such as Verizon and DirecTV are offering Cablevision customers special sign up offers to switch providers.

I personally agree with the side of Cablevision, in the fact that people don't have the money to spend and should have access to basic cable networks such as FOX.

To read the full story click here

Are NFL Rules and Fines Changing the Game?

Hard hits and violent tackles have always been a big part of football, but the NFL has recently become more cautious of head to head collisions and illegal tackles. Dunta Robinson and DeSean Jackson were both sent off the field at New Meadowlands Stadium last week with concussions after a jaw dropping tackle by Robinson, Atlanta Falcons corner back. Although it's no fun for injured athletes, these hard hits are what the fans come to see.

To see the play, click here.

The question now is, where should the line be drawn? In many situations it is hard to avoid these hard collisions, with 260 pound athletes running at each other at high speeds. Defensive players will argue that they can't play the way they want with restrictions on how to hit, while quarter backs and running backs will argue that they can't play with the fear of injury due to being hit illegally.

Brandon Meriweather of the New England Patriots was recently fined $50,000 dollars for a hit on Baltimore tight end Todd Heap, but as fines don't mean much to professional athletes making millions of dollars, the NFL is now thinking of imposing strict rules and possibly even suspension for such hits. Different players and coaches all have their own opinions, but it is likely that the NFL will create some rules and restrictions as an effort to minimize concussions and head injuries that affect athletes even after their careers are over.

For more on the article in the NY times, click here.

Microsoft Introduces Kinect!

Microsoft has built an add on to the Xbox 360 console called the Kinect. It will be in stores next month and will be sold separately from the Xbox 360 for a price of 150$. According to this article, Microsoft has "one-upped" it's competition which is Sony and Nintendo. It is considered to be better because instead of using a controler, the Kinect senses your body motions and is also voice activated. Microsoft hopes this will carry on beyond gamers and into family's homes for the entire family to play. The hopes for this voice recognition technology is to expand beyond the living room and extend to the whole house. For me I would love for this Kinect to be in my house and in every room. It would help make things easier and everything would be voice activated. As this is just the beginning of the Kinect, It will have it's kinks and critics have been all over that saying "Microsoft has had a nasty habit of gumming up its creative engines with bureaucracy." Nevertheless I would love to have the Kinect except for the fact that the Kinect games have been called simple and easy, I would love to give it a try! For the full article Click Here.

Thyriod Cancer Patients

After being given radioactive supplements cancer patients familys can be at risk for about a week, depending on the dose. Once the treatment is given, the patient is "contagious" and can spread dangerous radioactive diseases to everyone around them. So what's the problem? Can't the patients stay in the hospital for a few days until they are better and no one is at risk? No. They can't. In 1997, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission repealed the requirement that these patients had to be quarantined in a hospital. In fact, most hospitals don't even have the option to stay, seeing as they have no areas to have them stay.
The most at risk people are the pregnant women because it affects the fetus. Where should these people go? Well they could go to a hotel and put no one at risk right? Well maybe. What happens if the maid that comes to clean the room is pregnant? She and her baby could be at great risk.

I feel it is very important to have a place in the hospital available for these radioactive people to stay. They need a safe place to be and not in danger others. If we have evidence that it is dangerous for other people to be around, it seems obvious to me that they should, at the very least, have a place like that to stay. Maybe even be required to stay for a certain amount of time. Why should people be put in danger when it is so easily avoidable? That is a risk I don't think we should take.

CLICK HERE TO READ THE NY TIMES STORY

School Improvements in Watertown

Recently in Watertown, School Committee Chairman Anthony Paolillo gave a half hour presentation about what half a million dollars can do for schools. Improvements are bound to be made after a $525,000 loan was approved; and some changes have already been made at the Phillips School and at the High School. As a student at Watertown High, I myself could think of many things that I would like to be seen done with the loan. For example, nicer bathrooms, facilities and better food would be on the top of my priority list if I could decide what to do with the money. For now I'll just have to hope and wait to see what the School Committee decides.

For more information on the loan, click here.

Drug Dealer Caught

I was reading one of the news articles on the Watertown Newspaper website and it was about a man from Lowell lurking around Melendy Avenue where previously they're was reports about drug dealing in that area and he was selling the product to someone in a car. Watertown Police caught the man around 11.p.m. on October 20. He had about 67.5 grams in his bag he admitted to smoking marijuana before they approached him. The victim was charge with possession of a Class D with intent to distribute and drug violation near a school/park.

Carbon Monoxide

In the Watertown Tab there was a news story on carbon monoxide. A couple returned home to find the fire alarm going off and called the fire department. The firefighters were able to trace the alarm to the boilers in the basement. The carbon monoxide readings were high but the firefighters were able to stop the leak and get it back to normal. Soon after the incident the couple was informed that they could return to their home and the levels were back to normal. The owners of the buildings were called and informed but once the levels were back to normal it wasn't a big deal. I think it is a great thing that the firefighters could get there in time and have no problem fixing the leak. It is important to have stories like this so people can feel safe and trust that if an incident like this happens to them they can rely in the firefighters.


CLICK HERE FOR THE LINK TO THE STORY

Lowell man dealing weed in Watertown

I read a story in the "Watertown Tab", about a 23 year old man from Lowell named Antwann Andrews, who was arrested at 11:30 pm on Oct. 12. He admitted to the officer that he had been smoking marijuana and a search later found one bag on his person and 3 other bags in a baby wipes case in his car. The total amount of marijuana was 67.5 grams.

I feel that this is terrible because it is sad that a outside man is bringing illegal drugs to our quiet little town of Watertown. Especially because most likely the weed will end up in the hands of minors, especially in our high school. It is people like this who make it easily accessible for teenagers to obtain drugs. Without big drug dealers like his man the drug problem would go down substantially.

Click here for the official report

Ashtray Fire

On October 18, there had been a small fire near an office near Mt. Auburn Street. It was a improperly extinguished cigarette which is the reason firefighters had to come to find a receptacle smoking at about 1:45 pm, and took quick and proper action and extinguished it fairly quickly. The firefighters "watered down" the ashtray just in case, but otherwise there have been no other signs that the fire spread any farther. I think that people should watch what they are doing, because even that small cigarette could have caused big problems if no one had treated it properly.

For the link to the story from the Watertown Tab CLICK HERE.

Carbon Monoxide at Mt. Auburn St. Apartment

The Watertown Fire Department reported that there was a leaky boiler on Mt. Auburn st. which led to a high carbon monoxide reading. The people inside the apartment were already standing outside of the apartment when the fire fighters got there. The fire fighters turned off the boiler and everyone was safe. The residents are very lucky to have had an alarm for carbon monoxide and that everyone was safe. For the full story Click Here

'Veggie Car'

A local Watertown resident converted his 1978 Mercedes car to run on vegetable oil. The veggie car attracts attention in town because of the grease smell. The Mercedes can also run on diesel fuel and needs about 10 gallons of veggie oil every month and a half. He uses the grease oil because it is more efficient and its environmentally friendly and you can also save money. I think its great to use grease oil because it helps the environment better.

For more information Click Here

Invisible Children Movie Reflection

Yesterday in Ms. Ventura's class, we watched the Invisible Children documentary, about three friends who traveled to Sudan in order to experience the war going on in Africa first hand. What they found were extremely difficult living conditions, and kids who had to run away from their homes at night to escape rebel groups. They sleep together in Verandas, safer communities far away from their home villages.

The story behind the Invisible Children foundation began in Northern Uganda, where Joseph Kony began a rebel movement against an oppressive government. The rebellion got way out of hand, however, and Kony is now continuing the violence just for the sake of it, abducting young children who he believes he can brainwash and turn into ruthless killers. Many abducted children are forced to kill, out of fear that they themselves will die unless the follow orders.

The situation that I saw in the movie was a rude awakening for me, as I got to see firsthand the kind of suffering that the oppressed children face in Northern Uganda and Sudan. The thing that shocked me the most was the children's attitudes in the Verandas. Most of them remain optimistic and find joy in small things. They dance, sing, and study with their friends.

The purpose of Invisible Children is for the war to get publicity and for the US government to take action in order to stop Joseph Kony. I really believe it is a great cause and plan on donating to the foundation.

Invisible Children

This movie I saw in my TV Studio class inspired me so much mainly because it's in my country Uganda and the outlook of it. The movie's basically about a guy named Joseph Kony who abducted kids in northern Uganda to join his gang LRA(Lord's Resistance Army). in 2003 three film makers traveled to Africa to see how it was but instead they found this sad story about kids being abducted to kill people and make other kid members join the group. they usually go to the age groups of around 4-12 because they know that age group is the easiest to brainwash these bad habits about killing people and such. My hope is for them to find this Joseph Kony guy and his helpers and kill them all and end this whole LRA thing and leave the children to live a happy normal life.

Invisible Children

We watched a movie on a war in Africa and how these children are being victimized and used as soldiers. These kids were living in streets without parents or adults and survived and depended on each other. These children feel that nobody notices them and feel alone, they feel somewhat invisible. They would love to live in the U.S. and do not wish for the people that documented this story to forget about them. The makers of this documentary wanted to get the word out, that there are kids in Africa that need help, and want people back in the U.S. to help.

Invisible Children

I think Joseph Kony should be found and brought into jail for kidnapping kids to become souldiers. I think it is very wrong for him to do that. in some ways I would compare him to Hitler because he has created a genocide basically because of all those people he is killing in the Acholi tribe.

Reaction to Invisible Children

A few days ago a foundation named "Invisible children" visited our school. They told us a story about a 24 year and counting, war going on in Uganda. The government is opposing a rebel group called the Lord's Resistance Army or LRA. This group led by one, Joseph Kony, their main objective is to overthrow the government. In the beginning, the LRA had a lot of support but as the war dragged on and little progress was being made, the LRA began losing support and because of the lack of support it became more violent. Kony's idea was that if no one would choose to support them then he would force them to. He did this by abducting children and making them soldiers.

To learn more go to this site

Invisible Children

Wow. What a sad documentary. When you watch things like that is really gets you thinking about how good you have it and there are some pretty awful things going on in the world. The worst part of the problem for me was that no other countries try to get involved or even make it news. I didn't even now about the invisible children until yesterday and neither did my parents when i told them and i feel that is needs to be big news so people can do things to help the problem. The part of the movie that got to me most was when the boy at the end started to cry. There were many times were people mentioned that kids in Uganda don't cry. He was talking about what he would do if his brother was there and he started crying. I thought that was absolutely awful and reason within itself to try to help out. The poor kid just wanted his brother back and it is not fair or just or even humane that he was killed in war.

The movie was about the war going on in northern Uganda. This man started a war to over throw the government and he now kidnaps kids and molds them into soldiers to help him fight. This war has been going on for 24 years and is a tragedy. There are many ways to get involved and I guarantee that all it takes to want to help is seeing a picture of these poor children.

CLICK HERE TO SEE THE WEBSITE

Invisible Children

The movie talked about the kids in Uganda, who were afraid to sleep in their own houses because some man who has been kidnapping kids from ages 4-18 (the easiest ages to brain wash them) and training them to kill and kidnap other kids, pretty much making them soldiers. The movie was make by three friends who never really traveled outside of the country too much, who decided to make a documentary about Uganda. I think the movie shows a lot of problems that are happening in Uganda, and tell us what is really going on, told by the kids themselves, of how terrible life for them is when they are hiding from a man and are too scared to sleep in their own houses. It shows how the children act more as a family, than just friends, and how packed some places are from the desperate children trying to hide. It told you a lot of information, since I, myself, never heard about this problem, or anything like it any were close to Uganda. I knew there was poverty and homelessness in Africa, but not to that extent. People should do something about it and the government should not ignore it for it is not a mild problem, it's a huge problem, that needs to be solved as soon as possible, or maybe even sooner!

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If you would like some more information, or to check out the website CLICK HERE! Thank you! :)

Runaway Chidren

I chose to do my blog about kids and children running away from home and living on their own. I think this is a kind of a big issue in some states because some kids are running away because of the problems or issues they are experiencing at home. The kids are using illegal ways to get themselves by living on the streets.

Click here for video

My News Report Summary

The topic of my news report is sports. I will be covering it with my classmate/teammate Derek Wright and basically what we are trying to do is explain/show how different sports interact with each other, and what different things the athletes do in those types of sports. we will also be talking about a lot of breaking news sports has had the past month and share the facts about those news.

Click Here For Video

My News Subject

My subject is going to be soccer academies and how young players across the world become star athletes. The thing that interests me the most about soccer academies is that I am a young player myself, hoping to learn as much as I can about the game. An interesting difference between America and Europe is that here we combine school with sports, whereas in Europe, soccer comes first for some families, even before academics.

Here is a video about one of the most successful academies in Europe, located in Amsterdam

News Subject

I want to make a news cast about science. I think it will be a good idea if there is a story about the oil spill that was supposed to end a while a go, but still hasn't. I want to do research on why they still can't stop the spill after such a long time and if we should still believe in finding a solution for the spill. Also I want to mention all the animals who had probably died because of the spill, but there was no sines on it to prove that, and how can they tell wether it was a contamination or not.

Link to video.

My News Subject

One video i watched on the new york times website really stood out to me. It was about a body builder who worked out for a very long time and wanted to be very strong but then when he went to the doctors they said that he had serious kidney damage and needed to stop. I thought that was interesting because doctor are always emphasizing exercise and now they are telling this guy to stop exercising. I guess to much of anything isn't very good for you body. I am going to cover this story by researching lifting weights and bodybuilding and seeing how that effects your health both negatively and positively.

CLICK HERE TO SEE VIDEO

My News Subject

For my news subject I would like to do sports. I've watched a few videos on the New York Times website and have decided thats what I would like to do. I would probably talk about any big sports subject that has happened, and won't limit myself to just one sport. I picked sports because I love sports, whether it's playing or watching, and just felt it was a good subject for me to report on. Click Here for a link to a video on the New York Times website that helped me choose my subject.

My News report subject

My subject that I will be focusing on is Sports. Moses and I will be covering it together. We are either going to cover profession, college, or high school sports. We have not decide in what format we will be doing it but it might be something like this...

I chose this topic because in the future ideally this is what i want to do with my life is to be a sports news reporter. Also, i felt it would be a cool experience to work with someone and see what it is like to have an "interaction" while doing the report.

NY TIMES VIDEO

As we being working on our news stories, I'd like you to watch some examples of news stories from the NY times.
Video Library Home Page - The New York Times

Relfection to "Digital Nation"

In my Tv& News production class we watched a movie called "Digital Nation". I felt that this video was very interesting in taking a look at the world around us. Even though many of people my age just accept all the technology around us. But, in this video m generation was dubbed the "dumbest generation", this is because my generation no longer really needs to remember facts and dates because we can easily pull out our mobile devices that have Internet access and find out information in no time. But, I say that if the technology is there why not use it? I feel that the idea of knowledge now isn't memorization rather it is application. Which means it isn't whether or not you can memorize everything but if you can apply that information to the problem that needs to be solved.

Technology has changed the workplace too. Now people can work for anywhere, whether they are in the same building, or at home or anywhere. Now they have online programs that people can have online meetings either with web cams or online avatar and headsets. So, it has really helped the spreading of ideas throughout a business. You can have a meeting with someone from across the world in a matter of moments.

The other big factor that the digital revolution has affected is military. The military is actually is to treat PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) which many soldiers suffer from after going to war and when they are trying to adjust back to everyday life. Also, the technology that is use in combat has changed. The biggest change is with what they call predator drones, which are unmanned planes which can be used for radar screening and bombings. This really takes the danger out of war for one side of the conflict.

Click here to watch the video

Digital World

Click Here for video

My reflection on the video Digital Nation is that I think its a terrible thing to fight a war virtually because you wouldn't be able to see who you hurt if you were to supposedly drop a bomb in a foreign country. I also think it is highly unhealthy for people to spend so much time on the computer playing online games because It causes you to be less social. Although some in some particular ways it can be great to use the computer often because it makes people less physically violent. Fighting virtual wars can be very useful because less soldiers wouldn't be losing lives but it can also be a terrible thing because when fighting the "enemy" a lot more innocent lives could be lost.

In my TV Studio class we watched a movie called Digital Nation. This movie was
basically about how much media people use now a days. Kids by far use the most media which includes Video Games, watching TV, listening to Ipods and etc. This movie also showed us that old citizens are also interacting with the internet and the new technology kids are using now a days. The one interesting thing they also showed was when people were meeting other people from across the country with a computerized game where you become characters . There was also a mother who was explaining how everyone in her family (which consumed her husband ,daughter and son) uses media all day everyday while she was the only one not really using it.





This movie also showed me how you can meet anyone online with a matter of seconds just from all the websites and computer games they created. Their was a game/website they showed where a lady was playing a teacher and she was teaching people all over the world how to meet other people. these people have never seen each other in real life but they are being animated characters.








Click Here To Watch Video

The content of the movie was not very surprising but quite eye opening. The speed and quality of the new media is very amazing. The part of the video that I remember most is the mention of the book the dumbest generation. I thought about that a long time and although at first I found it offensive, i realize that the statement if not true is very relevant to todays children. I defenitaly do not agree that we are the dumbest generation, I just think we are smarter in different ways. Back in the day laptops, t.vs, even cell phones didn't exist, so those people didn't need to learn how to use them. Now in todays world you cant even get by in school or work without how to look up something on the Internet or how to write a paper on Microsoft word. So those are the basic skills that need to be taught in schools. Previously in school those were not skills that were even dreamed about. So no I do not think we are the dumbest generation, although maybe we are the least creative. I believe we may be the least creative because when there used to be no t.v or video games the kids had to make up to play with there friends. Now, the contents of a play date are watching t.v and playing video games.

I always was not very surprised about the mention of multi-media usage because I myself multitask with media quite a bit. You can text well watching t.v so easily know it is almost like a way of life for teens. I was also not surprised about how you preform poorer while media

Overall i thought the movie was good and very noticeable around teen life.

CLICK HERE TO SEE THE VIDEO

Digital Nation - Reflection

All of things stood out for me in Digital Nation. The subject that stood out the most though, were the computer game addictedkids from Korea. These kids were hooked, and some needed treatment by going to treatment centers, including one boy whose grades dropped from the top of the class to the bottom half. These kids need to not let it take over their lives, but a lot of them are already hooked. I just think it's crazy how you could be so attached to videogames, but clearly it's an issue not just in Korea but everywhere that has access to videogames. I hope one day all these kids solve their issues, and they can move on with their lives. If you want to see the digital nation video, click below.
Click Here For Digital Nation

The Digital World

During the movie called the "Digital World", there had been many points where it mentioned that there are a lot of gains in the creation of the technology that we have today, but probably just as many losses created at the same time. Some examples would be that an average number of hours people play the Wold of War craft a week is about 10 hours. But most of the people play much, much more. But as bad as that could be, the bright side to the fact is that these types of games create their own world for people, where you can be anything you want from the poorest peasant, to the king of the game. They give people a chance to do something new, to be able to try what you probably never be able to in the real world.


Many gamers listen to many talks of people being able to do more than one thing at a time is truly impossible. When students (or sometimes even grown ups) say that they could multitask is a lie. The truth is that when you multi task you actually are getting distracted from what you are doing (or supposed to be doing) and making the job harder, and taking more time out of your time than it really is supposed to.


Another negative fact about the virtual world today is that every thing feels real, but isn't. There had been an experiment when a person would look at a plate of food and a hand showing that it is eating a plate of a dessert. After the experiment there had been findings that the people felt full, and even nauseated, though they had not really been eating anything. The same thing has been happening with the pilots of the air force. Though they are not really there and just controlling a machine in the war zone, where they them selves are about 20 minutes from his/her home at their station, there had been discoveries that they had the same depression, or Post-Traumatic Stress Syndrome (PTS), as the ones that had actually been at the war.


So even though people say that they know and can tell what is real and what is not, you can never be too careful of how much media you use, and when too much, is just too much.

For more information on media use, click here.

To watch the Video, click here.