Newslog #21

Baltic Sea letter in a bottle found 24 years later

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/eu_odd_russia_letter_in_a_bottle

13-year-old Daniil Korotkikh from Russia recently found a letter in a bottle on a beach when walking with his parents. This beach in the Baltic Sea was off of where Frank Uesbeck left the bottle back in 1987. The letter was written in German and left in a German beer bottle. Luckily, Korotkikh's father knew someone who could translate the message that was wrapped in cellophane and closed by a medical bandage.. The letter read, "My name is Frank, and I'm five years old. My dad and I are traveling on a ship to Denmark. If you find this letter, please write back to me, and I will write back to you." Also in the letter was Uesbeck's address in the town of Coesfeld. Korotkikh wrote to Uesbeck and Uesbeck could not believe that someone had written to him. He admitted that he barely remembers the trip and that his dad wrote the letter, not him. The two have recently started to video chat and hope to meet each other in person.


I really enjoyed reading this story. I often hear about people who write messages in bottles, but nothing ever happens with it. In this case, two complete strangers from different worlds connected over a letter. I especially think that this 24-year span made the letter even more interesting; it's almost double the age of Korotkikh. I hope Korotkikh and Uesbeck meet in person and become friends so that Uesbeck can re-tell his adventures from his Denmark trip.

Newslog #20

Facebook kicks off 20,000 underage users a day

http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_thelookout/20110323/bs_yblog_thelookout/facebook-kicks-off-20000-underage-users-a-day

Mozelle Thompson is the chief privacy adviser of Australia's parliament. According to Thompson, about 20,000 underage users sign up for Facebook everyday. There is a 13 years old and up age requirement, but the site has no way of finding out if the user is really 13 or older. A study from Pew found that about half of 12 year olds in the United States use social networking websites. Senator Al Franken, a Minnesota Democrat, says "These younger users are the most vulnerable to predators to Facebook and the rest of the Internet and it should be impossible for them to inadvertently share their phone numbers and home addresses with anyone." Some websites, like Yahoo! and Disney.com, require children 12 and under to sign up for their sites with a parent present.

Social networking websites have no way of knowing how old their users are unless the user provides that information. Also, they don't know whether or not parents know their children are on the Internet. Virtually, there is no way for these websites to monitor children on the Internet. The only solution I personally can think of is that parents should be in the same room as their children when they're on the Internet. By this, I think that children will be safer and won't do anything inappropriate.

Newslog #19

Reality TV and the SAT: Did students miss the point of the essay question?

 

http://shine.yahoo.com/channel/parenting/reality-tv-and-the-sat-did-students-miss-the-point-of-the-essay-question-2465881/#pollId-91FA4A044C2E11E0BC08EF7629D73D4E

One of the essays offered for the March SATs was about reality television. The essay prompt read:

“Reality television programs, which feature real people engaged in real activities rather than professional actors performing scripted scenes, are increasingly popular. These shows depict ordinary people competing in everything from singing and dancing to losing weight, or just living their everyday lives. Most people believe that the reality these shows portray is authentic, but they are being misled. How authentic can these shows be when producers design challenges for the participants and then editors alter filmed scenes?

“Do people benefit from forms of entertainment that show so-called reality, or are such forms of entertainment harmful?”

Many students, parents, and school officials are upset about this question because they believe that in order to answer the question thoroughly, students would have had to watch reality television shows. On College Board's message boards, some students complained that they never watch reality television and don't have any knowledge on these types of shows. However, Laurence Bunin, senior vice president for operations and the general manager of the SAT Program at the College Board, thinks that a student does not need to have experienced what the question is asking; all they need to do is take a stand from the information given in the prompt. "The central task of the SAT essay is to take one side of an issue and develop an argument to support that position. If presented with a topic about balancing the risk of climbing a mountain with the reward of reaching the summit, for example, a good writer could compose a strong essay without ever having reach the summit of Mount Everest," says Bunin.


I do not agree with Bunin's ideology. I have watched a number of reality television shows, so I know how they are set up and portrayed. If I had not watched these shows, then I would have no knowledge of how real (or fake) the shows are. I feel as if College Board assumed that most teenagers have watched reality television. However, numerous students have no interest nor knowledge about these shows.

Newslog #18

Skippy Peanut Butter Not the First to Carry Salmonella 

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ac/20110308/lf_ac/8013826_skippy_peanut_butter_not_the_first_to_carry_salmonella_1

Within the past few years, peanut butter has had many recalls for salmonella poisoning. Salmonella can appear on peanuts during their growing stage, collecting, or storage and turns up in low-moisture, high fat areas. Usually, hot processing temperatures are not enough to kill the salmonella bacteria and even if it was killed during manufacturing, the bacteria could still be lingering in the building and get into the products. The first case was in August 2006, when the company, Peter Pan, recalled 15 types of their products. Between then and May 2007, over 600 people in 47 states were affected. The next company to have tainted products was the King Nut Company, who in January 2009, issued a recall. The King Nut Company does not manufacture the product; it only distributes to seven states. One of the states is Minnesota, which is where the salmonella outbreak occurred. These cases all led to the Peanut Corporation of America in Blakely, Georgia in February 2009. By this time, more than 700 people became sick and nine people died. The FDA found that there was more than salmonella contamination in the PCA's buildings. There were cockroaches, equipment that wasn't cleaned properly, and a leaky roof. The PCA was also guilty of tainting pet food and over 200 companies had to recall almost 4,000 products because of this.

The most recent peanut butter salmonella case was just this week, when Skippy stated that their Reduced Fat Creamy and Chunky Peanut Butter Spreads might be tainted. 16 states are affected. However, there have been no illnesses stated yet.

I think food manufacturers need to take better care of their buildings. Their food is being sent to millions of people and producing this food in unsanitary conditions can in the long run, cause the company millions of dollars (in possible law suits). I think food companies should have stricter building and equipment codes and regulations so that another outbreak like this does not occur.

Newslog #17

With government shutdown looming, New York landmarks will be closed for business

http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_localnyc/with-government-shutdown-looming-new-york-landmarks-will-be-closed-for-business

The Statue of Liberty is one of the many places that will shut down on Friday because Congress cannot agree on a budget for this year. Democrats and Republicans in Congress have not come up with a plan with how much money can be spent in 2011. Because of this, many parks and monuments, like Liberty Island, will be closing and over 8 million federal tax returns will be delayed. In addition to this, passport and visa requests and cleanup work at toxic sites will be halted and social security checks will be frozen because its shop will be closed for 3 weeks. These actions are causing New York State a whopping $100 million per day, according to a study by Bruce Yandle, a George Mason University professor. Because visas are not being processed, the 3.2 million tourists who visit New York City every year won't be able to come, which will result in restaurants, hotels, and tourist attractions to lose money.

I think it's awful that just because a group of people cannot agree on a budget, many monuments that are enjoyed by innocent people will be shut down. People do not deserve to have their favorite sites taken away from them and hard-working business owners do not deserve to lose money because of one-sided politicians. The United States has become so divided due to politics and in my eyes, is no longer a "united" nation. These biased politicians need to come up with an agreement soon because in the mean time,  New York City will be losing important money.