Response to "Freshman Parking Lots"

In response to The Freshman Parking Lot, and Traffic Services by Chris Coppin that can be found at http://ccoppin.blogspot.com/

My first incident with the parking services here at Ithaca College occured on campus before school even started. In preseason for football we were not allowed to move our cars because of some odd football rule (even though we barely had time outside of practices) but I ended up getting a ticket. I tried to level with them but they found no point in disputing it. I then heard of a story from a friend of mine. Last year he was a freshmen and after fall break the freshmen parking lot was full of cars, in which some didn't have parking stickers to even park on campus. He parked his car, the best he could, in the grass off to the side because there were no spots left. He ended up getting a $30 ticket while the kids who didn't even have a parking sticker ended up recieving only $20. Now is this justice? I think not! The parking price is twice as much as it is for upper classmen. Personally, living in the towers, it is a hike! There are times I need to run downtown for supplies, and will not just because my car is so far away. I think that the parking needs to be readjusted because the faculty lots are never full, and the student would gladly park closer to their dorms from the convience. Once again the tuition paid for this school could help fund another small parking lot in a convinient location for students. I know lots of freshmen agree with this statement.

Evaluation: march MADness

March MADness is one of the biggest sport betting events of the year, as many fanatics around the nation will agree. Just as the superbowl betting is, march madness creates the opportunity for huge amounts of money to be bet. I feel every year someone bets their mortage of their house, and some years the select few win and some lose it. The cinderalla teams pose such a great betting appeal because the odds are against them, and all they need to do is surprise a team with a 40 minute performance to change the nation. I feel that the march madness tournament is now the biggest betting sporting event annualy! Between the endless fantasy brackets and single game betting there are endless opportunities to win big or lose it all. How many people reading this article have a bracket set up on yahoo, espn, or even facebook? And of those of you that do, how much have you spent to join it and what's the winning pot size? A simple $5 in the right bracket could end up winning over $100, which is an enormous turn around. Personally, I'm not allowed to bet being an NCAA athlete because it violates some rule, but I envy those that are allowed to join in on the festivities. Watching the games I always root for the underdog, and always will because march MADness is the environment that creates an atmosphere where anything can happen in any game and any time, just ask Davidson College about it. Good luck readers with your brackets.

Response to Abstinence

In response to Jordan's acticle on Abstinence, which can be found at http://jordanraeberry.blogspot.com/

After reading his blog, it reminded me of my high school. I reminised back to a day in 5th grade calss when we had our first sex ed class. It was only a lady that told us about sex, and it was overall a very childish thing that didn't get in depth. Once we got into middle school we were taught about it again with more in depth features of pregnency and std's. To simulate pregnency we had to take care of an egg for a week, and if the egg broke we would recieve a zero for the project. My egg survived but having to take care of baby in high school or even in college is outta control. It's impossible to handle a baby and an education in today's society of trying to get ahead in academics and balancing a baby. Safe sex was definately pushed hard at my school, abstinence was mentioned but overall it wasn't practiced by many. I remembered the older kids above my class had problems with STD's going around the school and I feel my class and the kids below us practiced more safe sex methods than the classes that graduated before us. I feel it's always safe to use a condom when having sex, just to be safe because no one wants to suffer from diseases that don't need to occur when only a dollar rubber can prevent. How do other students feel on this topic? Being in college I imagine views are different from when we were in high school.

Evaluation of ITS Password Change

I just recieved an email from the ITS helpdesk telling about the need to change our passwords, as I'm sure everyone reading this article is in the same dilemma. With only a quarter of the first school year left to go, the ITS decides to change the password secuirty here at Ithaca. First of all it's a waste of time. Honestly, who steals peoples passwords to their email and webct account. There is no benefit of having that password, unless you want to read their lame school emails they recieve or look at their grades. Feel free to steal mine because there is no need for such a secure password for an area that isn't even that meaningful to me. If it were the password to my Etrade account, which is doing as good as the stock market right now, then I would want a very secure password. The requirements of the password are even more ridiculous because you must have a combination of 8 figures with numbers, letters, and a special key such as a % * _ - !. Why would i ever want a special key in my password to confuse me more? A simple letter and number combination is very easy. Another flaw in the system is that in 120 days I have to reset my password. That means on July 15th, 2008 when I'm sitting at home, I'm going to have to work on setting a new password to make sure my account is secure. Luckily I'll remember do it, and even worse remember my password to do it. Otherwise I will have to see the ITS desk personally in the fall to fix the problems this occurs. How do the other students feel on this subject? I can guarantee that the majority will feel the same way because it is a waste of time and shouldn't have to be addressed.

Response to "Britney"

In response to the article "Britney" by Liza found at http://eyorke1.blogspot.com/

I find the whole topic of sex appealing dolls to young girls, absolutely disgusting because why would we want our young audience of children, that soak up everything they can learn as a sponge, idolizing sex appealing tactics. Girls that are targeted as the consumers of the bratz are roughly 4-12 yrs old. That is the age of innocence for young girls where they aren't corrupted by drugs, sex, etc. Then why would we want to change it and introduce them into sex appealing attitudes, where they dress as pretty much sluts when they are only children that haven't even experienced puberty yet. Liza did some great research as she visited the website of the Bratz dolls to find all the girl dolls information. It's insane how one girl is "right now a vegetarian", and another is "not afraid of confrontation, she knows who she is, what she wants and how to get it." Those are some comments that involve a lot of age to bring out of people. Little girls are not suppose to act like that. The marketers and designers of this product should be utterly disgusted with themselves, as they are corrupting the youth of our society. What gives them the right to be able to sell sex provacative toys on the market? There's one thing about making money, it is either done ethically or unethically. At the end of the day if someone can look into the mirror and say that they earned an honest dollar, through hard work and good ethics. Then that is great, but when your dealing with people that corrupt society, well their ethics are thrown out the window long before they can get to see themselves in the mirror of honesty.

Evaluation of an Essay

Being in a writing class, there is a lot of speculation that surrounds writing. When a paper is written what determines the grade that should be recieved. Which brings me to the question of : what makes an average paper into a great paper? Well there are things that I feel are given... A paper must follow the form given, whether it's a persuasive essay, argument, or eulogy remembering someone. It must follow the form for the desired type of essay. Another requirement that must be met is your paper must be gramatically correct. That means no mispelled words, right punctuation, commas, and a good use of vocabulary. The argument exists in the topic of the paper. Just as an artist would create a picture of his or her vision of an object with a different spin upon it or a sort of pablo picasso picture. A paper is very similar because the view of the paper depends on the view given to it by the author. The paper is the authors canvas, words are used like paint, and the final draft is the masterpiece. How is it a teacher can give a D to a paper just because they simple disagree with the topic? I don't feel it's right, as long as facts present the paper that it is portrayed then the grammar and fundamentals should be all that is graded. The opinion of a paper is solely up to the author whether it is in line with the teachers view or against it. Papers are the outlook of authors as artist create their view of the mona lisa, the paper describes it and all the intangibles of it. Does anyone disagree with my statement? Being that we are in a writing class, this could cause stir between teacher and students.