Apply vs. Incredible

The Droid Incredible and the iPhone 4 are interchangeable phones. They are often mistaken for each other. The Droid Incredible is the Mercedes of phones; its sleek black color is trimmed with a bright succulent cherry red around the circular camera lens. The phone is thin and sleek allowing for easy storage in the pockets of its owners. Its rectangular shape the only way to go with phones makes it easy to hold and text. The phones screen, acting as a sleek mirror when turned off, takes up almost the entire front of the phone. At the top of the phone there is a small, almost unnoticeable but not quite, rectangular speaker. It’s highlighted with cherry red to stand out and not blend in. Right below the speaker and right above the screen is the Verizon logo and the word Verizon in silver. At the end of Verizon there is a tinny light that changes colors and at the bottom, there is a circular button that looks like it was placed there for looks and not use. The button looks nothing like a regular button. There are several circles falling in upon each other, getting smaller and smaller as they go until they meet a hole that is outlined with silver. There are various buttons located on the left side of the phone and on top of the phone. The back of the phone is where the camera is located along with two lights for the flash of the camera and a speaker. All three are located at the top. The back of the Droid Incredible is not flat. Parts of the back are raised in an irregular shape to make room for the batter.

The iPhone 4 is the Ferrari of phones; expensive and popular. This phone can be found in black or snow white. The phone is thin and rectangular with beveled edges. This phone is a little wider than that of the Droid Incredible. This design allows for the phone to be stored in pockets and comfortably fits in the palm of the owner’s hand. The front and back of the phone are completely black or white. The screen takes up most of the front space of the phone. The screen is rectangular and does not have rounded edges unlike the actual shape of the phone. At the top of the front there is a small oval shaped speaker. This speaker is the color of black and stands out on the white phone. There is a small black circle to the left of the speaker. This is the front camera which allows iPhones to have video chat with each other. There is a circular button at the bottom of the screen. This button, which has a square on the circle, can be found on most iPhone products. The side of the phone is the color of shiny silver. This silver accent is the chrome of the iPhone. There are several circular buttons located on the silver chrome. The back of the phone is where the main camera for the iPhone is located. The camera is just a big black circle. It has a clear cover over black circles that converge to a reflective lens. One of the most recognized and popular logo is placed on the back, a silver apple. At the bottom there is the words iPhone and other small symbols in silver.

Bad Teachers

I am evaluating my Math teachers. The main math teacher I will focus on is Mr. Juell. He teaches Algebra 3 and Trigonometry, which was combined in one class, and Geometry. He was an absolute terrible teacher; he couldn’t even do the problems himself. Teachers are age old; they have been around almost since the beginning of time. They have also caused great discussion among students. “Don’t take him he is a terrible professor.” This is common advice students give each other or sometimes you will hear, “He was really good, I completely understood what he was talking about. You should take his classes.” Students seek out this advice because they know if they get stuck with an intelligible teacher their grade and understanding of the subject will suffer. Many college have websites that have student evaluations of teachers. This is a blessing to all of the students who take advantage of it, although it is only made available because of the kind few who suffered through terrible teachers.

Mr. Juell would fall under the category of math teacher. Some more broad categories are education and teachers, but for my purposes he will be categorized in math teachers. The kind of math they teach does not matter as long as they teach a form of math. Mr. Juell can be compaired to some other math teachers I have had. Some examples are Ms. Krock a honors Algebra 2 teacher, Mrs. Kohlmann a honors pre-calculus teacher, Mrs. Reish a honors Geometry teacher, and Dr. Ping Xu a Business Calculus teacher. I have had each of these teachers and had personal experience with them. Some of them are really good teachers others know what they are teaching but can’t teach it, and some have no clue what they are doing. They can be used to compare with Mr.Juell to help identify what specific qualities a teacher must have to categories them as a bad math teacher.

I can use two different sets of criteria to evaluate Mr. Juell, that of a good teacher or of a bad teacher. For my purposes I need to define both to make a comparison. I believe during this evaluation I will find that some teachers don’t meet the criteria of either a good teacher or a bad teacher and will fall in the middle. A bad teacher has a low understand of what they teach, they make several mistakes regarding class material, are unable to explain the subject they are teaching in a way their students would understand, they are unable to give an intelligent answer to questions that can be understood, and finally they are unable to gain the respect of their students. A good teacher has a high understand of the subject they teach, they make very little mistakes, are able to take the complicated materiel and explain it in a way that students can understand clearly, they can answer questions pertaining to the subject they teach, and have the faith and respect of their students.

This Blog be Edited to its Full Extent

My blog can be read but I think that the white text with a blackish gray background doesn’t pop as much as it could. The blog posts need to be posted with similar outlines. The blog is very colorful and represents me as an individual but I am not sure it is appropriate for College. If the design is only supposed to be based upon only academics then it could be improved upon. But I think that the blog is also supposed to represent us as an individual, writer, and student. The background I choice for my blog could be considered unprofessional but I don’t believe writing is a strict business suit wear being.

Writing, at least for me, is about being creative. Not hiding behind the stiff collars that threaten to strangle you but expressing your colorful bright self. I consider writing to be a form of art. The background of my blog portrays this view perfectly. The design layout could be tweaked a little. Move the toolbar to the left hand side instead of the right. The posts need a more consistent look along with the words having a pop to them. I think the color of the text should be changed to a brighter color that will stand out more, make it feel more artistic. The font of the blogs should be professional because this is a blog for a class not my personal journal. This blog should have a clean consistent look but bright and artistically creative looking at the same time.

I made my blog easier to read by changing the page text color from an off white to a white. I also decided to make the titles of posts and the title of the blog stand out by changing the color to an apply green that shows up nicely on the transparent black. I also changed the font of the titles to cherry soda. It is not a formal font but I felt it was appropriate because of the artistic background. The page text font was also changed to Arial which is a more formal font but I didn’t want the blog to look like a formal paper, where you write in Times New Roman. It’s still formal but not research paper formal.

I moved the side bar from the right to the left. I felt that because this is a blog, a form of social networking, that it would be appropriate to move it to the other side. The most commonly known networking sight is Facebook. They have a navigation bar on the left and advertisements on the right. I took a web page design class, I was taught what is normal and what looks professional. I created a website for FBLA that won eighth place in the nation. I took some of my design ideas from I Need Work SHS and applied them to this. Through my bright colors and a more formal lay out I am trying to create a professional yet fun artistic look.

I also broke up my hold posts into smaller paragraph so it was easier to read. I then made the transparent grayish space smaller giving it a more of a newspaper feel. I also added a couple of tools the tool bar. I added a search bar for easy search and I also added a photo of myself on Graduation day. This was the beginning and end of my academic career.

Investigating

We followed the directions almost dyeing when our driver got in death ally to into a furniture parking lot. This is where it was supposed to be but it was nowhere in sight. We get closer to a building that was separated from the other buildings in the parking lot. It didn’t look like a food bank, but we couldn’t tell what it was. We got close enough to read the sign and found that it was in fact the Food Bank. We walk through the doors and find ourselves in a cramped waiting area. There where seats lining a wall, bags of produce and birthday gift bags lined the others. It wasn’t at all what I had expected. We were immediately greeted by a volunteer and asked if she could help us. The boys lifted the bags of food that we had brought to donate. She led us to a small room that could have been a closet. She had us put the food on the scale. She then wrote our names and the weight of the food we had donated on a thank you paper. We asked if we could help out for an hour. She then led us to another room a little bigger than the other one. It had 5 freezers of meat and milk along the walls along with shelves of canned and boxed food. This was the room that they packed the individual bags they would give to families.

Quotes:

Their mission as Diane Albright, a volunteer, puts it is to "provide emergency food to those in need in the state college area and to support the network of food pantries in Centre County."

Craig Peery, a volunteer who has worked there for several years said, "They (the people) are always very grateful. Most places even in large cities are lucky if they have enough supplies to give out one can to people who come in, but here no one leaves with less than twenty-five pounds of food."

Megan Meister said, "Over the years, my family and I have faced financial difficulties, and the physical and mental relief that the Food Bank has given me and my family has been profound.”

Facts:

According to the “In order to use the State College Food Bank,” one must reside in the State College Area School District (or live in Julian and have a 692 phone number) AND have a referral from one of the agencies in the area such as the Community Help Center or the The Salvation Army of State College.

Did you know, despite being one of the most developed countries in the world, the U.S. generates about 34 million tons of wasted food each year according to United States Environmental Protection Agency. That amount of food takes up about 14.1% of our total solid waste.

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, up to one-fifth of America’s food goes to waste, that would be approximately 130 pounds of food per person, which ends up in landfills throughout the United States.

Things I want to know more about:

Most of the people who go to food banks are not on welfare. If the government doesn’t think they need help then do they need help from the food bank?

Apparently in order to get food from a food bank you have to be referred. They will generally be approved for 8 visits in a 12 month period. He or she is able to determine when he can use those 8 visits, based on individual needs. Why is this set up this way?

Drinking at Penn State

The issue of this piece is that there is so much drinking and partying at campuses but it’s such a common thing and most people don’t see anything wrong with it. They wanted to find out why Penn State was the number one party school and what has been done to correct the drinking problem. They want to find out what it means to party, and why they party. They started this investigation because it’s so common to find students all over the nation binge drinking and there seems to be no end in sight. This story has no really specific audience but it will find more favor with none students. In a way it is also made for students and possible to help inform them of the effects their partying has on other people. The piece explained what went on during a typical night by being stationed on a porch down town. They also gave information about it being common for drunken college students to just walk in to someone’s house and fall asleep. Through the details of what some townies have witnessed such as the dangerous actions of throwing furniture off a roof then setting it on fire, peeing on people property, and just being obnoxiously loud they showed the problems the townies are having when dealing with the drunk kids.

They then explained the view point of alumni by going to a tailgate and getting interviews and explaining the atmosphere here. They decribied the university as being a community because of tailgating. They all come together to calibrate and cheer for their school football team. One person they interview said that if they got banned tailgates many of the alumni would be unhappy and stop giving the school money. They also went to many different stores near state college to see how drinking affected them. They gave lots of statics about economy and that state college had a high unemployment rate. Many of the store owners did not mind the drinking, which they made lots of money off of. Some were happy that the students were having a good time. One bar owner said that he liked being around them because the students have their whole future to look forward to where most bars have sad depressed people. Then they gave the statistic that state college is one of the safest communities but that state college spends a ton of money in the police department. In this report they included interviews that did a nice job of explain several different viewpoints. Then the interviewee would give statistics that were about the information the person in the interview had given. The interviewee would then further explain what the person they interview said.

The only reason people worry about drinking is because it is so dangerous to the student. The university has tried hard to stop the drinking issues but nothing seems to have a huge effect. After a death due to drinking, students at Penn State where given the message, if you’re going to drink, drink responsibly. The students did become more responsible by not allowing anyone to go home by themselves but the students did not consider drinking less. The efforts that Penn State makes toward drinking only lasts so long because the students leave by the thousands and more replaces them every year not remembering the deaths that had caused so much change. This report says that drinking at Penn State is a problem because it can result in death but the students do it and they love Penn State. They never want it to end. The University can only do so much. It is an ongoing battle that they have and are continuing to fight. I liked this report because it gave so many different viewpoints on the issue and lots of good facts. They way in which they reported their findings allowed you to follow on their journey of discovery and understand the heart of the problem.