Snowday!

Almost every student at GBN has been talking about snow days for the past week. "A snow day would save my life!" "Everyone! There's going to be a snow day tomorrow! Just don't come to school!" Of course there are also the few kids that run down the halls screaming, "SNOW DAY TOMORROW! WOOHOOO! NO SCHOOL!!!" It's too bad there usually isn't a snow day the next day. Oddly, there was one today. After all the hype and talk about it there finally was one. Students have been checking the weather almost everyday throughout the week hoping to see that glorious announcement of a 13 inch dump of snow overnight. The snow day was a perfect start to an early winter break. Everybody, even the teachers I'm sure, were dreading the last day of school. There's nothing better than a winter break, except a longer one. People were also saying that they didn't want a snow day because we would have to make up the day at the end of the year. First of all they are wrong because we can have up to 2 missed days before they start making it up. Secondly, sometimes a surprise day off is the best thing that can happen to a student or teacher. I'm sure most students would love to have a surprise 3 day weekend, even if they had to make up 1 extra day at the end of the year. For me this snow day is almost perfect. It has prevented me from having that 'last day of school' attitude and not wanting to do any work while also raising my spirits. All I can say is, "I love snow."

White, Fluffy, and Frigid

People that love spring will be waiting impatiently for the season to be over. People that love summer detest the word itself. People that love fall will be dreading the beginning of it. And the people that love this season can't describe with words how anxious they will be for it to get here. They'll be doing anything from having snowball fights to shredding the white capped mountains while everyone else is sitting at home bummed out. If you haven't figured it out already, I'm talking about the season winter. Winter is finally emerging, and I, like many other lovers of snow, can't wait for the season to get here already. The first snowfalls of fall have already made their appearances, teasing me to the point where I have to watch snowboarding videos every time I see a snowflake. I just started snowboarding last year, and I couldn't get enough of it. I couldn't stand to see the snow slowly melt away. The base of the amazement of the season was slowly bleeding out, dieing in front of me. It's also a season of investment for those who take pleasure in staring at the cold hard numbers of their company's cash flow storming in. Winter is a time for huge investment and profit for big snowboarding companies. A piece of plastic that attaches you to your snowboard costs about $100 too much, but they have to make a profit somehow. It snowed today. That's why I was so urged to write about the upcoming season. Although none of it stuck, the important part is that it snowed glorious, white, puffy snowflakes. Just one step closer to actually getting on the mountain and tearing it up. The wait is what makes it better when it gets here anyways. I'm definitely willing to wait for this year's season, impatiently, but willingly. I have a feeling it'll be amazing when it finally arrives.

Baby Boomers: My Ticket to Welfare

After the second World War there was an unusual increase in birth rates, especially in Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and the United States. The Baby Boomer generation lasted from 1946 to 1964. In this period of time 76 million American children were born. By now, the Baby Boomer generation is old and ready to retire. The age wave theory suggests that the economy will slow down immensely and the stock market will peak when they start retiring in 2007-2009. This prediction is based on the fact that consumer spending spikes at around age 50. When this happens, my generation and the other middle aged men and women at the time, the X and Y generations, will have to cover the retirement funds for an excessive amount of retired people. No matter where we go, we will have to deal with this issue. Is our generation doomed to be poor at the cost of supporting our elders?

John Gallagher says in The Seattle Times that, "And thanks to near-workaholic habits, they are among the most aggressive, creative and demanding workers on the market." Are we expected to fill this impending gap with our generation? There are so many problems with the issue as a whole I couldn't dlea with them all in this article. I'm not even going to begin to deal with any. Shall we move to Canada? I think not. The same problem arises. As well as in most of the world now. The Baby Boomer generation did the world much good, and bad of course, but the departure of them will do nobody good. Life for the elders of the Baby Boomer generation must've been great, but supporting the Baby Boomers when there arn't enough of us in the first place? Life just isn't fair sometimes. I hope not. If you're interested in the demise of our generation, feel free to check out these websites and articles.
Retirement of baby boomers may reverberate in workplace
No Country for young Men
Wikipedia

The Most Important Meal Of The Day

I've always been told that breakfast by far the most important meal of the day, and that I shouldn't ever miss it, but I've been debating whether or not it really does matter if I skip it or just eat a little. I did a quick search on it, and I found that there was scientific proof that breakfast is indeed the most important meal of the day. This article shows how some Harvard students and a professor experimented on some people on whether eating breakfast affected your health or not. It turned out that the people who didn't eat breakfast were more likely to become obese, develop diabetes, and have a heart attack in the long run. I looked for what a healthy breakfast would be, and I found this site. They also said that eating breakfast in the morning that contains protein and fiber helps you concentrate in school. I think now that I know that breakfast can help you live a healthier life and help with school, I'll be making a conscious effort to eat breakfast as often as I can.

Global Warming

Some people see global warming as the certain apocalypse of the world, while others see it as nothing but a harmless anomaly in recent temperatures. Global warming is the increase in temperatures around the globe since the 20th century. Scientists have recorded that average temperatures have been increasing for the past 100 years, and some believe that it will not stop. If this is true, then Earth and humans are doomed to extinction. Rising temperatures will eventually cause icebergs in the Arctic to melt, which in turn will cause the majority of the earth to flood. The movie "Waterworld" (1995) paints a possible representation of the future earth if global warming persists. The world will be almost absolutely submerged in water, and most of the population will die. There is an ongoing political and public debate about whether or not the issue should be addressed or not, although; most national governments have looked into the issue seriously and are trying to cut down what they think are the main cause of global warming: greenhouse gases. The Kyoto Protocol is a national protocol to help reduce greenhouse gases. I think it's better to be safe than sorry and since there is science behind the theory we should be cautious of the possible global issue. Here is a government climate change website if you are interested in this topic or in helping to reduce greenhouse gases to help the global warming issue.

A Mutant Future?

Radiation is almost everywhere every part of this modern world today. Whether it's coming from radio towers, cell phones, or microwaves, you cannot avoid it. Everybody has seen at least one movie where everybody on earth gets mutated by radiation, and so the question is: should we fear the same fate? Even though mutation is a bit extreme, physical and mental health risks still seem like a realistic problem to the society. Cell phones especially haven't been around long enough for us to determine whether or not they are a health hazard. There are always articles that are published in the newspaper that tell you not to put your phone in your chest pocket as it may affect heart health, or how they are just plain hazardous to your whole body. This wikipedia article explains how radiation could possibly be a threat to the health of your body, specifically your brain. Since almost every teenager and adult in the North American continent possess cell phones, more research into whether or not cell phones are hazardous may be a great asset to the humans everywhere. Here is another article you may want to check out if you are interested in this topic.

Cramming Before the Test

I was cramming for a quiz today right before I took it, and I started to wonder how much this was really helping me, if it was at all. Many students cram for exams at the last minute, and I was curious as to how this worked and if this really even helped. So I researched this when I got home, and I found that many website who had stated that cramming isn't a good way to study for an exam at all. Although cramming can get you the 'B' or maybe even that 'A' for this quiz or test, in the long run you will suffer for it. Cramming is pretty self-explanatory, you basically cram as much information as you can into your short term memory without much time for practiced study. Since some people do have a very sharp short term memory, cramming works for them better than others without one. Although they might do very well on the current quiz or test, when it comes to the semester exam the student will have forgotten almost all the information that they had crammed for previous exams. So while cramming may seem to work at the moment, in the long term you will greatly suffer.
Try these websites below for a little more information about cramming and how it's not an effective way of studying in the long run.
http://www.worldwidelearn.com/education-advisor/questions/does-cramming-for-tests-work.php
http://learningdisabilities.about.com/od/instructionalmaterials/qt/cramming.htm

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