Campaign K-12

So the political blog that I chose to follow is the campaign K-12 blog. This blog is about the politics as they relate to kids and people our age. It talks a lot about what all the politicians thoughts and plans are concerning shcool systems, the no child left behind policy, and other items dealing with k-12 education. It is really neat to see these issues put out there in an organized way like this being so easily accesible becasue right now, with the economy in such bad shape, these issues aren't at the forefront of conversations.

These blogs are very different than the ones I have looked at in the past. Other non-professional blogs are structured very differently. The posts on these political blogs aren't full of opinions and just fluff. They are more based on fact, or are supposed to be, and have links to the facts that they talk about within the posts. The posts are actually there for thoughtful discussion not just yeah I like that thing that thats about. It has a big side bar full of links that relate to the topic and places where the information from the posts comes from. The posts aren't always done by the same person. Sometimes they have guest writers who put up posts, which is interesting to read. In that way it keeps the point of view different and can also possibly counteract having the blog be biased one way or the other.

An issue on this blog that I found interesting had to do with the economic situation our country is currently in and what Obama desires to do about it. He says that he wants to create a 25 billion dollar fund to rebuild schools and roads and things like that. He says that this will open up one million or more new jobs for the everyday person who faces losing their job because of the economic crisis we are in. I thought this was an interesting plan because it's not just giving money away to try and stimulate our economy its creating jobs and options for people who have no where else to go to turn to. Nothing is exactly set in stone yet of course but this will be something I will enjoy seeing how it plays out.

Blogs About Blogging?!

So in my search for blogs I actually discovered that google has an official blog. Not only do they have a google blog, but they actually have a blog about google reader!! I thought this was really interesting because it is obviously something we are using and we can look at it to learn more about how to use google reader and become better bloggers and blog followers. It was neat to look at because people really do like die-hard follow google things and you can see where they left comments about new features and stuff like then then they would comment again saying google fixed whatever the problem or suggestion was. I though that was really neat to think that we can actually kind of interact with google. very cool.

Pandas Galore!!!!

In searching through blogs about cute and fuzzy animals I came across the blog for the San Diego Zoo! ( PANDAS ) I expected this blog to be a little bit boring and only talk about things like events going on at the zoo however it was pleasantly different than this. The zoo blog had information about a panda that just had a baby accompanied by an ADORABLE youtube video of that baby panda. If you like animals and cute little baby pandas then you would definitely enjoy the San Diego zoo blog.

NOT the dumbest generation.

Many people consider the youth of today to be the "dumbest generation". However saying this just displays that individuals own ignorance. Yes, sometime I write "i" instead of "I" in informal online conversations, and I do rely on spell check when editing a paper, but none of these things mean that I don't have as much knowledge as anybody in the past. Some critics attack technology and say that it is being abused by students and taking away from the learning experience, but I can speak from personal experience that it isn't. Last year I had the privelage of learing in a one to one classroom with laptops for every student and other technologies. It is a common misconception that all these resources make learning nothing more than a tempory gathering of information that will later be thrown away and forgotton but that is not so. That class was the hardest I have ever taken. I was expected not only to find the information required for class but to search through hundreds of other related sources to help understand and find meaning in it. Without the internet, where would you be able to find first hand accounts about the Great Depression, or World War II, with just a few clicks of a mouse. My computer literacy has also helped me outside of school. I often help my dad, who is the manager of a buisness, create online forums, websites, and other resources to help with his business. We are not at all the dumbest generation; we are a generation with many skills and new ways of thinking that will help us be pioneers for the generation ahead of us.