AIS Year in Review

CYCLES

Here's a little help for everyone else looking for some outside evidence on cycles:
http://www.timepage.org/time.html
And hey, Mark Twain was in the realistic time period (I think)! Wish I had found this site before writing that essay.. maybe would have been a little extra help?
Well to everyone, good luck making it through finals, especially with the work load of multiple finals and teachers not fully realizing how much time you DON'T have, yet are still expected to use it preparing. Good luck.

Also, Bolos/O'Connor, may I recommend a book that I came across as well, that seems to be your lives' callings? http://www.amazon.com/Cycles-American-History-Arthur-Schlesinger/dp/0395957931 I don't know what it actually is like, but enjoy.

THE FINAL

Cycles, cycles, cycles. Must everything be linked? Apparently, if you take AIS. It's either a cycle or a progression. Which I guess for the most part IS true, but how depressing to have to think like that? Anyways, life in itself pretty much is a cycle. You're born, you have your childhood, you make mistakes, learn, try to be someone different than everyone else (making you just the same as them), you go through schooling, more schooling, go into the work force, get married, have kids, retire, die. It is the same with everyone throughout the modern world. It is the ancient past and the "undeveloped" world that is the true gem - although they may have cycles of their own, there are a lot more variables that factor into the equation of life, making it more unpredictable. We are told from a young age that we can be anything we want to be, whether it be from Disney movies, teachers, or our parents. However, we soon come to realize that there are restrictions - there are restrictions on everything. So no, we can't actually be anything we want to be. There are many cycles in life: caring then not caring then being forced to care again to make up for when you weren't caring, the overall life cycle of birth and death, the cycle of dealing with drama, ect. ect. It all always has the same ending - giving up.
It's like the cycle of war too - and in the end one side is always forced to give up.

Favorites

Don't you just hate it when people play favorites? We've all seen it in all of our classes, and teachers will almost never fess up to it, but let's face the facts - it happens. So students become torn between sucking up to their teachers for that good grade and peers relenting them. As we have all seen, there are those students so good at sucking up that the teachers never notice that is their intention; but fellow students always realize. And then others that are just so pitiful that even the teacher calls them out on it. I feel like that might be the definition of a good student, anyway, just someone who cares enough and sucks up to the teacher enough to get a good grade. It's no wonder why many students, myself included, have been labeled in certain classes at least as the "slackers".
Can I give you an example? I got the same grade on every essay this year, whether I spent 20 minutes or 5+ hours on it. I don't deny that the teachers read the essays, because obviously we had a lot of marks on them. However, don't you think that they based their grade at least PARTLY upon who you are, not what your essay was? And it's like that in every class, everywhere. It's a cycle that us as humans go through - playing favorites over and over again.

Memorial Day

Although Memorial Day started out with noble beginnings, the true meaning is being lost on today's youth. I myself am pretty guilty of this as well... only viewing today as a day off of school, not remembering those who have fallen for our country. One reason could be come from how I grew up - Kenilworth traditionally holds its Memorial Day parade the weekend before Memorial Day. Why? It happens to be because a large percentage of the community goes away for the long weekend - so they decided to just move the national holiday. This promotes the insignificance of such holidays in our lives. Now I didn't say that this was right or how it should be, I believe quite the contrary actually. But in today's hectic society, who has time to stop and remember?

Politics, Politics, Politics....

Nearing the end of the Democratic primaries, will Obama pull it out the win over Clinton? Even if he does, I believe the party has been divided for too long - instead of working together, they have been splitting their group in two. So my thoughts then become, even after the Democratic candidate is decided, who knows if that candidate will get the support of fellow democrats? The elongated democratic primaries may have been the best thing to happen to McCain yet - let's just hope people are willing to look at the actual candidate and not just whomever is democrat vs republican

I have been trying to decide what I think this coming November will bring, but there are so many variables it is impossible to tell.. But two main questions that will decide the outcome are as follows:
-Will people vote for McCain just because they do not like Obama or Clinton?
-Will people vote democrat just because they do not like the Bush administration?

Junior Theme....winding down

The night before the Junior Theme is due is the night dreaded (and feared) by many. How often do you come across a student who is COMPLETELY DONE with their Theme before the last night? It's pretty rare. In fact, I'd bet that you'd be more likely to come across someone who hadn't even started it. I believe that in today's world, there are an increasing number of procrastinators, due to a number of reasons. One main reason with many subcategories is technology. Whether it be TV, facebook, BLOGGER, instant messaging, or even online shopping, the desire to do the required school work is slipping down a slippery slope. Many students will only do schoolwork when it is absolutely necessary, increasing the list of underachievers to the max. Even students who have always worked hard through most of high school or even through college get burnt out by the time it "really counts". But this raises another discrepancy: why is it that every time we start slacking off and enjoying ourselves we are told we chose the wrong time to do so? When would be the right time to have a little fun and less work? Apparently never.

In my Junior Theme research I came across the information of how the invention of the light bulb has actually increased the levels of depression, a lot because of how that invention allowed workdays to become twice as long. The work day keeps increasing, sleep is vanishing into thin air, and our society is going in a downward spiral. It's not the "global warming" that will be the end of the human race, it's simply the light bulb.

Our Earthquake

With all the talk about the recent earthquake that hit Illinois, I thought I'd share this article I found:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/20080418/sc_livescience/scientistsevenbiggerquakecouldhitmidwest

It talks about the likeliness of another earthquake hitting in the near future. What I was wondering was, what would happen if we actually did have a large earthquake in the area?

My thoughts were this:
Unless you have taken a geoscience class and actually payed attention when learning how to deal with an earthquake, there are almost no people in the Chicagoland area that would know what to do. This could put us in a "perilous times" of real sorts, not just on the political side of things. Thoughts?

Sleep vs. Exercise and Diet

As you may know, my topic for Junior Theme is about sleep deprivation in Americans. The book I am reading (Light's Out: Sleep, Sugar, and Survival) brought up some very good points, and I thought I would share some of them with you. A major point in the book that I found interesting, although not directly connected with my topic, is the correlation between exercise and GAINING weight. And I don't mean converting fat to muscle type of weight, I mean increasing food intake and fat percentage. The author had a good argument. He states that when you run, your body immediately thinks you are running for your life. This triggers the release of cortisol, a stress hormone. The increased level of cortisol, paired with adrenaline, creates a temporary euphoria. But when you exercise vigorously a few times a week or more, the cortisol levels do not get a chance to subside, causing your body to be in a constant state of distress and crave fatty foods.

Junior Theme

For Junior Theme I am researching sleep deprivation and stress. My main question is "Why are Americans so reluctant to see sleep as productive?" It is a very interesting topic, especially since walking around the halls of New Trier the majority of the people you see are sleep deprived. Sleep deprivation is a main cause of obesity, leading into type II diabetes and heart disease, depression, and cancer. A main problem we have is staying away from artificial light. There are normal light-dark cycles our bodies have been trained to go through for centuries, eating more in the long summer days to prepare for the famine of winter. Artificial light allows us to stay up late, night after night, and we trick our bodies into believing we are in an eternal summer. Doesn't sound too bad, right? Problem is when we never get to hibernate and sleep off all the extra food we're eating, we gain weight and become unhappy, irritable, and sick. Yet we think this just means we need to exercise more. Quite to the contrary, mon ami. Sleeping will solve all of your problems. Well, almost all.

St. Patty's Day MOVED???? Can they do that???

Apparently they can, because they just did. Many Catholic Churches worldwide held mass for St. Patrick's Day on Friday, March 14 this year instead of this coming Monday. Why? Because this year the real St. Patty's Day occurs during "Holy Week" which apparently is "the most sombre week of the Church calendar year". Well, I definitely wouldn't want to be stuck going to one of THOSE masses.... Luckily for us, no more of this confusion will be happening while we're alive - this is the last time St. Patrick's Day will overlap with Holy Week until 2160.

(http://tvnz.co.nz/view/page/411365/1636038)

Past Idealism and Realism: just LIFE

We have been putting so much emphasis on realism vs. idealism in class that I think we have in fact lost sight of the real picture: not everything is that straightforward, and people don't always have one view or the other. Many people just live their lives, and no one needs to judge whether they are a realist or an idealist. So where did this all start? People believe in what they want to believe in. Some people are chronic dreamers, while others are pessimists. But the majority of the planet consists of just plain old PEOPLE. Who are we to judge whether they are a realist or idealist? We will never have all the facts of their lives and will never be able to analyze them fully and correctly. So why do we try?

"New Sins"???

The Pope recently released a list of the "new sins" that have to do with the sins of the modern times. Things that were not relevant before include "going green", but at the same time can this really be considered a sin that damns you for all eternity? That might be a little harsh, if you ask me. I didn't even know there was a list of sins in the first place. Why does there have to be a list? Sins are different for every situation and personal beliefs, so HOW can there be a list?

http://green.yahoo.com/news/nm/20080310/hl_nm/pope_sins_dc.html

Pharmaceuticals Found in Drinking Water of Over 41 Million Americans

Apparently there are trace amounts of various pharmaceuticals in the drinking water of millions of people worldwide. These drugs range from anti-convulsants to mood stabilizers to sex hormones. The amount of these drugs that our water contains is way less than an actual dosage of the drug, but what will happen to our bodies after being exposed to them for a long period of time? Will the drugs become less effective when we actually need them? Or will the effects be more serious?
Also, I found it interesting that some cities, Chicago included, refused to test the water, and other cities lied about the results. If it is widely known that almost all drinking water has trace amounts of drugs in it, why not embrace the problem and try to be the city that actually does something about it?



http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080309/ap_on_re_us/pharmawater_i

We are famous, again

New Trier makes headlines again, but this time for a hacker:
http://www.suntimes.com/news/education/820000,newtrier022908.article
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-new-trier_01mar01,1,3006724.story?track=rss

Chicago newspapers and radio stations are eating this up...

Especially this article: http://pantagraph.com/articles/2008/03/02/news/doc47ca3cf53324a948284949.txt which explains the competetive nature New Trier is known for.

McCain Clinches Republican Candidate Title

But will people vote democratic just because they don't like Bush? That is the ultimate question, in my mind.

I think that is the case, at least from all the talk I've heard. Voters do not necessarily have a reason to vote for Clinton or Obama or any other candidate for that matter, they don't even really have a reason to vote democratic other than they want CHANGE. That is all we hear about nowadays. CHANGE CHANGE CHANGE. But wouldn't McCain and his administration be just as big of a change as having a democratic president? Maybe not AS much change, but certainly a lot of change. And maybe America isn't ready for a huge change, even if we think we are.

"Living Goddess" Retires

I came across this interesting article on the yahoo home page a few days ago, which explains the belief of Buddhists and Hindus in which there is an incarnation of a powerful goddess. Although I found the fact that she could retire from being a "living goddess" very interesting, the thing that struck me as extremely odd came in at the very end of the article. There was a sentence stating how some humans rights activists have petitioned to the Supreme Court about ending the practice of choosing a young goddess. Why would people in the United States be so against practices half a world away? I believe it is because here pretty much all we ever hear and learn about is Christianity and Judaism, and even Judaism not that much. So do these human rights activists just not fully understand the practice and for that reason believe that it "denies the girl her normal life"? Because what is a normal life anyway? If being portrayed as a goddess denies her a "normal life," what about princes and princesses, or even children of our presidents? I just found this to be outrageous and almost humorous.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080303/od_uk_nm/oukoe_uk_nepal_goddess

Crying All Over the Place

Yesterday Terrell Owens shed tears over his teammate Tony Romo because the press was asking whether Romo's decision to vacation last week instead of practicing had affected his play.

Now Hillary Clinton won the New Hampshire primary after she "choked up" on TV, and seeing the two so close to each other made me ask: is it all just a publicity stunt and Hil-dawg was just the first to jump on the train? Whether that was the intention or not, it's working. I mean obviously; I'm even writing about it.

A link with T.O.'s video clip follows:
http://www.transworldnews.com/NewsStory.aspx?id=33145&cat=6

CIVIL LIBERTIES STRIKES AGIAN...OR NOT.

Is the law just? Well you can't even get your appeal heard!
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080108/od_afp/usjusticeoffbeat;_ylt=AqlLSNVIvITg04JUCAj5xWUuQE4F
For the man in the article, he may have won the girl, but at a hefty price.

Can you really charge a man with wooing a woman away from her husband? Another civil liberties violation?... How can there be a law against human nature? The convicted man is being forced to pay his wife's ex-husband $750,000 because she got pregnant and left her husband for him. For me, the most shocking part of the article was the following:
"But armed with the admission of adultery, betrayed ex-husband Johnny Valentine decided to sue Fitch, based on an antiquated Mississippi state law permitting a cuckolded spouse to seek damages for "loss of society, companionship, love and affection," as well as "the loss of sexual relations."
About a half dozen US states have similar "alienation of affection" laws on the book.
The Mississippi Supreme Court upheld a jury verdict awarding some 750,000 dollars to Valentine."
Six states have thisw law??? In my opinion, it's not even Constitutional. What do you think?