Amazon Lending

Earlier this week Amazon, one of the largest Internet businesses, started offering loans to its online sellers. This is something drastically different for them. Since the inception of Amazon, they have been in the business of making money,  not lending money. By moving to a loan making business, they are not only offering up their large amounts of money to their clients, but they are also opening themselves up to potential credit risks. The idea is that Amazon would offer loans to their sellers which will in turn allow them to buy more inventory that can then be sold on the website. Amazon would get money from both sides because they would get interest from the loans as well as fees from the selling of the inventory of their sellers.

The new entity will be called Amazon Lending, but has not yet been officially announced. Emails went out earlier this week to potential clients telling them about the business opportunity and as word spread Amazon's stock began to rise throughout the week. An announcement is expected in the near future, but an official date has not been named yet.

Alistair Barr wrote the article "Amazon Lending: Company Offering Loans to its Online Sellers" was posted on The Huffington Post earlier this week.

Baby Panda Dies in Washington D.C.

Earlier today a baby panda that was just a week old died at the National Zoo in Washington D.C. This was a sad occasion because it was the first pregnancy that Mei Ziang had resulted in a live birth since 2005. In the past seven years she has had five failed pregnancies. The baby weighed only four ounces and there were no obvious signs of trauma when the baby was retrieved from the care of its mother about an hour after its final recorded sounds. The veterinarians at the zoo will do a necropsy to determine the final cause of death, but results will not be out until Monday at the earliest.

Pandas are a rare breed of animals that have a lot of trouble reproducing both in zoos and in the wild. This makes the loss of this baby panda even more sad. Because the baby panda was not yet 100 days old, as per Chinese tradition, it was not yet named. The zoo is now unsure if they will try to breed Mei Ziang again. "Baby Panda Dies at National Zoo" was written by Ben Nuckols and published today in The Huffington Post.

Chicago Teacher's Union Strike

This past week has been a difficult one for the children, parents, and most importantly the teachers of the Chicago Teacher's Union. Last week the teachers went on strike siting they were unhappy about their new proposed contracts that included stricter evaluations and less job security. Earlier today the mayor of Chicago presented the union with a new contract after a long week of negotiations. The teachers refused to sign the contract stating that they needed more time to review the contract before they could sign with a clear conscious. This means that the schools in Chicago will be closed for a couple more days. They will meet again on Tuesday, after Rosh Hashana, to discuss the idea of signing the contract. The soonest schools will be back in would be Wednesday. Even though this is a long time and a good reason to strike, parents are even beginning to picket and protest with the teachers. This could be a long strike, but if the teachers give in early they will not get what is truly right for both them and the students within their district. This article, "Chicago Teachers Strike: Union to Continue Industrial Action Into Second Week" was written by Tammy Webber and Sophia Tareen who are members of the Associated Press. The article was posted on The Huffington Post.

No More Truancy Tickets

Earlier this week in the Los Angeles Times there was an editorial article titled "Taking Care of Truants" that discusses the new changes to the truant student program for Los Angeles. The program used to entail truant students receiving rather expensive tickets for being truant from school. Officers were even reported waiting on busy routes to school to write tickets for students that were even running late to school, but were obviously on their way to campus. The program was supposed to provide a way for counselors, principals, parents, and the like to find out why students were not in school so that they could provide the proper resources to ensure that more children stayed in school and continued on the graduation. The program did not always work that way because it usually frustrated everyone involved and the process of going to court, paying hefty fines, and dealing with missing more school has made the program very difficult to not only manage by for students to navigate. This usually resulted in students dropping out rather then continuing on with their education.

A new program that is being proposed will hopefully benefit everyone involved. The new program will not hand out hefty tickets, but will rather focus on counseling tardy and truant students instead. In order for a program like this to work though, the district will need to also implement a disciplinary program that will replace the use of tickets. The program will be used for repeated truancy offenders and other minor rule-breaking. With mandatory counseling for truant students hopefully it will help to get to the root of the students problems and provide them with ways to better ensure that they are at school.

Moose Tracks Takes on Cancer

To me, ice cream is the food of the gods, but there is only really one flavor that I truly crave: Moose Tracks. It consists of vanilla ice cream with peanut butter cups and ribbons of chocolate fudge. How can this heavenly combination be wrong? I tried moose tracks for the first time when I was about twenty years old. I had just found out that I was diagnosed with breast cancer, so I stopped by the store on my way home to get some "comfort" food, which usually included ice cream. I browsed through the freezer section and the interesting packaging got my attention. I read the label and my curiosity was peaked. I decided to grab it and give it a try.

When I got it home, I grabbed a spoon and napkin and then sat down on the couch to watch my go to movie when I get depressed: The Godfather. Do not ask why I watch that movie when I get depressed, just understand that it sometimes cheers me up. Moving on, I open the lid of the carton, dip my spoon in, and take my first bite. I am in heaven. The sweet, glorious, amazing taste makes everything seem to feel better. Obviously it cannot make the cancer go away, but at least it acts as a temporary tranquilizer while I try to process and think about what is going to happen to me. Since then, I have changed my life dramatically and very rarely eat ice cream, but when I do it takes me back and reminds me of how far I have come since I survived cancer.

Is The New York Times Liberal?

As Public Editor of The New York Times, Arthur Brisbane made some sweeping accusations in his final editorial article that was published today in the newspaper. In an article titled, "Arthur Brisbane, New York Times Public Editor: Progressivism 'Bleeds Through' the Paper" the author discusses the fact that for his last article Brisbane took the opportunity to voice his opinion on the ever changing climate of The New York Times. Brisbane feels that the paper has become rather biased on certain topics that are written about in the paper. According to him, the bias leans to the liberal side especially when it comes to supporting a cause like the Occupy movements or gay marriage. Instead of just reporting the news, Brisbane claims that the paper appears to be helping the causes. On the other hand though, Brisbane states "that editors and reports are committed to 'fairness and balance' when it comes to covering a national presidential campaign."

When looking at an article like this that is posted in The Huffington Post it is good to keep in mind the idea of bias because our society thrives on taking sides and competing in almost everything. This includes newspapers, television news, and radio news/advertising. It is all about the money, viewers, and subscribers. If following a movement like Occupy or supporting gay marriage helps to sell papers then I am not surprised that The New York Times does this. But on the other hand, is Brisbane really a reliable person to listen to when he is making such a sweeping accusation in his final column as he leaves the paper as his place of employment?

Assange Appeals to th US and UK

In a press conference today in London, Julian Assange spoke about how he had hoped that the United States would end its "witch hunt" against Wikileaks and release the U.S. soldier, Bradley Manning, that initially leaked the classified information to Wikileaks. News of the press conference was reported in The Huffington Post early on Sunday 8/19/2012 in an article titled "Julian Assange: U.S. Must End 'Witch Hunt' Against Wikileaks". Assange is currently living in the Ecuadorian embassy in London where he is living in asylum. If he leaves the embassy, which only takes up one floor of the actual building, he is at risk for being arrested by London police and extradited to Sweden. He is wanted for questioning in Sweden for supposedly committing sexual assault in 2010 in the Wikileaks office. The press conference was giving from the entrance door to the embassy to ensure that Assange was not arrested by police.

This article is important not only because it gives an update on a tension filled fight over the person who runs Wikileaks, but also it brings into question the idea of ethical standards for journalists. Yes, journalists have a right to keep their sources confidential and to report what information they view as being important and helpful to society, but this was not necessarily the case with Wikileaks. Wikileaks published highly sensitive information that disrupted governments, peace treaties, and put people lives at risk because the journalist thought the right thing to do was to publish top secret information on an ongoing basis. As a reader this makes one think about the journalistic protocols.

My Favorite Book

     I live in a world where reading has really started to go by the wayside, or at least from the traditional sense of opening a book, smelling the new book smell, and turning the pages as take in each new enticing word. I still remember the book that changed my life when I was in high school; Interview with a Vampire by Anne Rice. It was not an assigned book to read for class, but it was one that really grabbed my interest and I was able to read it very quickly. In fact, I think it was the first book that I read in less than two days. I opened the pages and let Lestat take me on a magical journey through the world of vampires.
     It was unlike any book that I had ever read before. The fantasy elements and the elevated style of writing really made me feel like I was reading something that I was not supposed to, but I was allowed to read this book. In fact, my high school English teacher told me about this book and said that I might enjoy it. She was very right in her assessment of the book.
     The main premise of the book takes place in New Orleans where a reporter has come to interview Lestat about his life as a vampire. The entire book is set up as the actual interview of Lestat. He takes the reader on a journey through how he became a vampire, the first vampire he turned, how he sometimes hatted being a vampire, and how he was now dealing with it even though the people around him had drastically changed in the last several hundred years that he had been alive.
     This is also the first place that I fell in love with vampires, but no other series of books have lived up the my expectations. Anne Rice believes that vampires are special and should be treated so, meaning that she puts them in more sophisticated settings and writes about them in a fashion that authors today are unable to do. If you are a lover of vampires and fantasy novels then this one would be a great read. Plus this is part of a series of books meaning that if the reader loves the first one, they can keep reading. I read the entire series and have done so many times.

New School Year, New Me

Here we are getting ready to start a new school year and things have drastically changed in my life and in the world of technology. As for my life, I'm now a grad student working on my MA in Education with emphasis in Guidance and Counseling. Yes this means that I'm working toward being a school counselor one day. Don't worry, I will still be in the classroom for several more years. The program will take at least three years for me to get through especially since I'm basically only taking one class at a time.

As for technology, I had a great time using my Smartboard last year. I went to several training sessions, got remotes that enabled the students to be more interactive with the board, and even programed some of my own fun games. My students really enjoyed the new interactivity and loved the fact that I would experiment with them, especially my two AP classes. I also used a blog with my AP Language class. At first they were very reserved about it, but as the year went on I saw their blogs take a form that I never expected. Because the experiment worked so well last year, I plan on using them again. The students that are moving on to my AP Literature class will start to learn about forums and the importance of how to use them in a professional manner. It will definitely be a new skill for them.

My goal this year is to write more and to do it right along with my students. I will include my blog as part of the weekly assignments and ensure that I am also commenting on and being more interactive with my students to ensure a better learning environment. I want them to understand the importance of them and how much they can help when it comes to writing about literature. This year though, I will take it to a new level. My incoming AP Language class has no idea what they are in for.