Remote Control War

This article talks about the advancement of robots in the military, specifically in the United States. It talks about a documentary film, Remote Control War, in which it shows that some soldiers can be sitting in rooms controlling heavy duty aircrafts with a remote while the aircraft is dropping bombs on areas of Afghanistan. They say that this advancement in technology is going to change warfare forever. For example, the U.S. military has robots that can dispose of bombs and if the bomb explodes that no lives are lost only a robot. This makes being in the armed forces a little safer. Also scientists say that in the next couple of decades, robots are going to be able to do anything that a soldier can.

I think that the fact that the military is using remote control aircrafts and robots that can diffuse bombs is really cool, but in the long run it could have a negative effect. The fact that these robots will lower the number of friendly casualties is good, but what happens when the robots become to advanced? If scientists start to develop robots that can think for themselves things could go wrong. All of a sudden robots could start to rebel against humans like in the Terminator. This is why I think that the development of robotic technology in warfare is good but scientists should make the robots capable of thinking for themselves.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/story/2011/02/23/technology-robots-war.html

The Hitting Age

This article talks about the hitting age in Canadian and American hockey. In Canada the age in which kids can start hitting in hockey is 11, but the people behind these studies believe that it should be raised to 13. According to the study, conducted by the University of Calgary, body-checking in Pee Wee hockey, ages 11 and 12, more than triples the risk of concussions and injuries. However, Charles Tator, a University of Toronto neurologist, doesn't believe that the study done in Calgary has enough evidence to support raising the hitting age in Canada.

When I was 11 I played hockey and I never got injured from getting hit. The reason for this is that I was one of the bigger kids on the ice, but a lot of the smaller kids in the league would get hurt on occasion. This is why I think that hitting in hockey at the age of 11 and 12 is some what of an issue, but not something that should be taken out of hand. I think that if they're going to raise the age of hitting that they should only raise it one year because what's hockey without a little contact?

http://www.cbc.ca/news/health/story/2011/02/21/concussion-hockey-bodycheck-age.html

Stretching Before Running Doesn't Help

This article talks about how it doesn't matter whether you stretch or not before running. A study in San Diego concludes that injuries during running are more likely depending on the amount of miles run, the heavier and older the runner, recent injury, and switching pre-run stretching routines. Dr. Pereles did a study on almost 3000 people and he split them into two groups, those who stretched before running and those who didn't. He also took a handful of people from each group and made them change their routines to the opposite. They were monitored for three months and the first two groups had the same results. The third group on the other hand had the highest percentage of injuries. In conclusion, it doesn't matter whether you stretch or not before running, but you should change up your routine.

I personally like to stretch a little bit before running and because I'm a teenager I'm probably less prone to injury than older people, but that doesn't mean that I think everyone should stretch. As it said in the article, you should change up your routine because it will make you more prone to injury. The reasons that I like to stretch before running are that I feel more loose and ready to go after stretching and it's what I was taught to do. Even though I prefer to stretch before running, I know that it doesn't really make a difference. For example, I play basketball this term and nobody on my team stretches and non of us get injured very often. This is why I think that it doesn't matter what your pre-run warm up is as long as your happy with it.

Energy Drinks Discouraged for Kids and Teens

This article talks about the potential harms that the ingredients, like caffeine, in energy drinks can have on kids and teens. The article has quotes from Dakota Sailor, an 18 year old high school student, who says that she had a seizure and was hospitalized for 5 days due to the caffeine in two energy drinks that she had in rapid succession. She has sworn off drinking energy drinks and she thinks that everyone else should to. The report says that some energy drinks have 4 or 5 times more caffeine than regular caffeine-based drinks like coke and Sailor said that some kids drink 4 or 5 energy drinks a day and that that's just dumb. The last thing that the article talks about is how over 300 cases of some sort of sickness have been reported, due to the consumption of energy drinks.

My parents don't like me drinking energy drinks, but that doesn't stop me from drinking them every once and a while. I've drank a variety of different energy drinks and, honestly, they don't have any side affects. I don't think that caffeine does anything to me. I think that the consumption of energy drinks isn't a bad thing if you drink them once or twice a week maybe. I don't think that anyone should drink more than one in a day though.

http://www.cbc.ca/health/story/2011/02/14/energy-drinks-children-risks.html

Protests in Egypt

This article is about the protests in Egypt. The beginning of the article talks about how the vice president of Egypt, Omar Suleiman, said in a press conference that there is no plan of the President, Hosni Mabarak, to step down and resign, this being the main demand of the protesters. The article also talks about how a CBC reporter comments on the protests by saying, "This movement is not shrinking, not losing momentum, but is, in fact, growing and enthusiastic." This shows that the President can't just wait it out becuase the people of Egypt are more enthusiastic than ever and all they want is for the President to resign. The last thing the article talks about is how the protesters look up to a man, Wael Ghonim, an exectutive of Google. Ghonim was captured by the police and held in custody for two weeks. When he was released he continued his work by setting up a facebook page that supports the protests in Egypt.

I think that the fact that the vice president has said that the president isn't going to resign means that the government has no intentions of stepping down just yet. I think he has no choice though because the protests won't stop until he has resigned so he's really just passing by time. I think that it's really great that the protests are gaining strength in numbers because it shows that a nation can unit as one and fight for what they believe is right. I also think that is is wrong that the police arrested Wael Ghonim for no justified reason.


http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2011/02/08/egypt-cairo-tahrir-google-mubarak.html

What shouldn't you say on the internet

This article talks about how a federal agency is warning people to be more careful about what they say online, specifically when they go on vacation. What you say online can cause serious problems for family, friends, and yourself. it says how you shouldn't use social media sites, like facebook and twitter, to announce that you're going on vacation. The reason for this is that not everyone that views your page, or profile, is your friend. The article says that, for example: if you announced that you were going to Cancun for 2 weeks with your family that this information could be read by the wrong people. Posting something like this makes it more likely that someone will break into your house and rob you because they would know that your house is empty. The article says that you should boost about going on a vacation on facebook until you arrive home from that vacation.

I think that this article has a valid point. You should never tell people that you are going on vacation unless somebody is still occupying your house. I know that I have done this before by posting on facebook that I was going to my cottage for 2 weeks, but it isn't really a problem for me because I live in a nicer part of the world, but for people who live in large cities and apartment buildings, I would tell them to be cautious about what they post on facebook because it could affect them in a negative way.


http://www.cbc.ca/consumer/story/2011/02/05/ns-dont-post-vacation-plans-on-social-media-sites.html

Earth Like Planets

This article talks about the Kepler telescope, which is under control by NASA, has discovered five potential earth sized planets that may support liquid water, and so possibly life. All five of these planets orbit a star in the habitable region so the planets are probably at proper temperatures to support liquid water. Now, NASA has to do some follow-up observations to confirm that what they discovered were actually planets. NASA also released new data on the telescope on more than 1,000 possible new planets outside of our solar system but in our galaxy. William Borucki, NASA said, "The fact that we've found so many planet candidates in such a tiny fraction of the sky suggests there are countless planets orbiting sun-like stars in our galaxy." They haven't confirmed them all to be planets yet but some astronomers think that over 90% of them are probably planets.

I think that it's really amazing that NASA has found new planets that could possibly sustain life, but I don't think that they're very practical. All of the planets that they discovered are outside of our solar system and therefore possibly light years away from us. The idea of ever traveling to them and altering their ecosystems to make them support life is outrageous. So overall, i think that NASA published this information just to make it as if they are making progress in a field that no real progress can be made in.

http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2011/02/02/science-space-kepler-planets.html

The Evolution of your Internet Experience

This article is about the future of Internet billing. I discusses how, in the near future, large companies like Bell will start using a system called usage-based billing rates with a 15% decrease in initial cost. This is a type of billing in which you pay an amount that depends on how much you upload onto the Internet and how much you download from the Internet. For example, Rogers Extreme Internet plan has an allowance of 80 gigabytes per month at a cost of $60. If you go over this limit you have to pay an additional $1.50 per gigabyte. The last thing the article talks about is how much you could download or upload with only one gigabyte of space. With only one gigabyte you could download around 200 songs or 1.5 movies.

I think that there is an upside and a downside to usage-based billing. Because Bell would have to decrease their initial cost for plans it would save money for people who don't use the Internet excessively, but for those people who use the internet a lot, they could see a rise in price of their Internet access. Also, because the world, in general, is becoming more of an online place, people could find themselves using more and more gigabytes of information and data per month. This could result in more expensive internet access. This is why I think that it would be bad for consumers if Bell started using usage-based billing methods.

http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2011/01/31/f-faq-usage-based-billing.html