Cockroach Brains May Hold New Antibiotics?

Cockroach Brains May Hold New Antibiotics?

Well, if you ever feel like you have a sinus infection, you can always snag that cockroach running across the street!

Write a response to this article. Find a topic in there, somewhere, somehow ... and write a two-paragraph response in the comments section.

In sour U.S. job market, military recruitment thriving | News for Dallas, Texas | Dallas Morning News | Breaking News for Dallas-Fort Worth | Dallas Morning News

In sour U.S. job market, military recruitment thriving | News for Dallas, Texas | Dallas Morning News | Breaking News for Dallas-Fort Worth | Dallas Morning News

1. Complete the Analyzing Informational Texts Handout
2. Leave a two-paragraph comment about the article. This is YOUR chance to share an outside opinion.
3. Smile! Life is what you think it is.

Photos: Africa's Disappearing Dragonflies, Fish, and Wildflowers

View the following pictures. Write a two-paragraph description of what you see. Be sure to use flowery (excuse the pun!) language - that is, plenty of descriptive words (adjectives, of course!). And if you are feeling extremely ambitious, you may write a short story that includes these images. Proofread and edit your paragraphs BEFORE you post your journal response.

Photos: Africa's Disappearing Dragonflies, Fish, and Wildflowers

Journal 2 - Quote Response

"An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind." - Mahatma Gandhi

1. What does the above quote mean to you?
2. Do agree with the quote's message?  Explain why you agree with it.
3. If you disagree, revise the quote to represent what you do believe.
4. What is the quote's theme?

Please leave your response in this post's Comments Section.  I expect two paragraphs (4-6 sentences in each paragraph) that answer all of the above questions.  Your answers should connect, flow, and become one topic - as opposed to disconnected answers.

Journal Entry 1

1. What are you passionate about doing in life?  Be specific!  And explain why you are passionate about it. 

2. What happens when people cease reaching for their dreams?  Explain your answer. 

Leave your responses in the Comments Section of this post.  Please put effort into this exercise.  (A minimum of four sentences that connect both answers together)

Editorial 1: "Steal This Movie, Too" by Thomas Friedman

Read "Steal This Movie, Too" by Thomas Friedman, write a personal narrative about your experiences in school, and reference the above article a minimum of five times in your personal narrative.  To complete this assignment you will need to identify Friedman's argument (what is he trying to say, how is he trying to say it, and why is he saying it).  Be sure that you use quotes to indicate borrowed ideas and words - unless you are paraphrasing.  In either case, you will need to cite Friedman after each reference.  Your personal narrative should be written in first-person point of view, though you may use third-person point of view when introducing Friedman's opinion.  I will not accept second-person point of view! 

Narrative Requirements:

1. Three-typed double-spaced pages
2. Error free
3. Integration of various sentence structures (simple, compound, complex, and/or compound-complex)
4. Logical idea development and organization
5. Rough draft and a final draft, with evidence of proofreading and editing
6. Read another student's narrative, if possible, and assist with proofreading/editing
7. Voice your opinions by examining your own personal experiences
8. Formal language
9. Correct use of <i>their, there, they're, its, and it's</i>
10. Demonstrate that you understood Friedman's editorial,  that you value your own life experiences, and that you are able to connect to another writer's opinion

Comments Section:

1. What would you do to improve education in this country?  Be specific in your response, which should be one paragraph in length (at least four complete sentences). 

2. What is an editorial?  How is it different from a traditional newspaper article?  Please answer in two sentences. 

Newspaper Article 1: Read and Respond

 

Court allows agents to secretly put GPS trackers on cars

 

By Dugald McConnell, CNN

August 27, 2010 9:26 a.m. EDT

(CNN) -- Law enforcement officers may secretly place a GPS device on a person's car without seeking a warrant from a judge, according to a recent federal appeals court ruling in California.
Drug Enforcement Administration agents in Oregon in 2007 surreptitiously attached a GPS to the silver Jeep owned by Juan Pineda-Moreno, whom they suspected of growing marijuana, according to court papers.
When Pineda-Moreno was arrested and charged, one piece of evidence was the GPS data, including the longitude and latitude of where the Jeep was driven, and how long it stayed. Prosecutors asserted the Jeep had been driven several times to remote rural locations where agents discovered marijuana being grown, court documents show.
Pineda-Moreno eventually pleaded guilty to conspiracy to grow marijuana, and is serving a 51-month sentence, according to his lawyer.
But he appealed on the grounds that sneaking onto a person's driveway and secretly tracking their car violates a person's reasonable expectation of privacy.
"They went onto the property several times in the middle of the night without his knowledge and without his permission," said his lawyer, Harrison Latto.
The U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the appeal twice -- in January of this year by a three-judge panel, and then again by the full court earlier this month. The judges who affirmed Pineda-Moreno's conviction did so without comment.
Latto says the Ninth Circuit decision means law enforcement can place trackers on cars, without seeking a court's permission, in the nine western states the California-based circuit covers.
The ruling likely won't be the end of the matter. A federal appeals court in Washington, D.C., arrived at a different conclusion in similar case, saying officers who attached a GPS to the car of a suspected drug dealer should have sought a warrant.
Experts say the issue could eventually reach the U.S. Supreme Court.
One of the dissenting judges in Pineda-Moreno's case, Chief Judge Alex Kozinski, said the defendant's driveway was private and that the decision would allow police to use tactics he called "creepy" and "underhanded."
"The vast majority of the 60 million people living in the Ninth Circuit will see their privacy materially diminished by the panel's ruling," Kozinksi wrote in his dissent.
"I think it is Orwellian," said Marc Rotenberg, executive director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center, which advocates for privacy rights.
"If the courts allow the police to gather up this information without a warrant," he said, "the police could place a tracking device on any individual's car -- without having to ever justify the reason they did that."
But supporters of the decision see the GPS trackers as a law enforcement tool that is no more intrusive than other means of surveillance, such as visually following a person, that do not require a court's approval.
"You left place A, at this time, you went to place B, you took this street -- that information can be gleaned in a variety of ways," said David Rivkin, a former Justice Department attorney. "It can be old surveillance, by tailing you unbeknownst to you; it could be a GPS."
He says that a person cannot automatically expect privacy just because something is on private property.

"You have to take measures -- to build a fence, to put the car in the garage" or post a no-trespassing sign, he said. "If you don't do that, you're not going to get the privacy."

CNN's Lea Iadarola contributed to this article.

GPS Surveillance 

Assignments:

1. Identify the subject/topic

2. Why is this an important subject/topic? 

3. What is the purpose of this article?  Is the writer successful in his purpose?  Explain your answer.

4. What tone/mood is evident in this article?  

5. Is there a counterargument?  If so, explain what it is.  

6. How could you research this topic in greater detail?  Name the different sources and methods you could use to dig deeper into this controversial subject.  

Please answer the above questions in a Word document.  Use complete sentences, provide support for your answers (quote specific sections, if necessary), and demonstrate that you understand the article, how it was written, and why it was written.  

1. Using a Word document, I want you to create an outline that focuses on main ideas, minor ideas, and arguments.  You may design the document however you wish, but I highly recommend that you create a graphic organizer or some type of visually-based organizer.  

2. Leave a comment (2-3 complete sentences) that summarizes the article.