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The National Minimum Drinking Age Act (NMDAA) of 1984 was passed in every state in the United States of America to increase the drinking age from eighteen years of age to twenty one. The Act declared that any state that allowed any person under the age of twenty one to drink would be punished. The federal government enforced this act with some restrictions, punishing any state who decided not to increase their drinking age to twenty one, by reducing their annual federal highway funding by ten percent. After a few years every state raised their drinking age to twenty one ending the age of teen alcohol consumption. Today there is much discussion on the topic, asking the question: will the drinking age ever be lowered again? “Advocacy groups have been fighting against this law for nearly 30 years now, claiming it is a gross violation of civil liberties and must be repealed. They claimed the law is absurd and unjust that young Americans can vote, marry, enter into contracts and serve in the military at 18, but cannot buy an alcoholic beverage." The controversy is real, and as teens reach their age of adulthood it becomes more apparent that they are being restricted of some of their adult-like duties, including having the right to drink. Many of the states agree that lowering the drinking age has actually caused more harm than good and have tried to test the theory. Some states have tried by requesting government approval, but are shut down by threats of losing federal funding. "If Congress would grant a waiver, the states would be willing to try something, and at least then we could get some evidence and see whether things are better or worse," said former Middlebury College president John McCardell. McCardell brings up a point that in order for this issue to be resolved the federal government has to be willing to allow states to make allegations of their own. Once these claims are made then the sates can prove or disprove them with pure evidence. The Government views that “Politically, it's a hard sell, in part because there are other public health hazards associated with excessive alcohol consumption, not just highway fatalities.” The government provides assumptions that could be true but these causes have other factors as well, besides the usage of drinking involved with teens. One of the reasons the NMDAA act was put into effect was due to the public’s concern for teenage drinking, which was thought to have an effect on drunk driving. Many agree that the rate for drunk driving has not decreased since the passing of the act in 1984, some even claim that it has gotten worse. There is evidence that lowering the drinking age has caused little or no effect and there are others that say it has increased the outcome of drunk driving accidents. The federal government also defends their passing of the act trough some scientific evidence stating that “Prior to passing NMDAA of 1984, there were many studies conducted on the effects of alcohol on younger people. Several studies determined that a youth’s brain is not fully developed until around age 21, and alcohol affects youth’s brains differently than it does adults.” Understanding the effects of alcohol is a crucial part when taking this issue into effect. Both levels of government have defensive positions on the NMDAA and why or why not it should be adjusted. I feel that in order for our country to recognize which option is best we have to test the results. Each state should be allowed to choose their own drinking age and adjust to the circumstances of the outcome. If states are allowed to reinterpret the act I think that there will be a different reaction from the public involving drinking which will ultimately over time justify the choices from both the federal and state governments. There are many other results that come from the passing of the act instilled in 1984, including the increased rate of teenage binge drinking that affects the health of our nation’s young people. Underage drinking still occurs now and it will most likely never cease to continue, but if our society pushes to educate our younger generations on the effects of alcohol there could be more positive results in the future.

Blog # whatever

Marcus basketball through the years My freshman and sophomore years at Marcus high school were the most exciting I think for basketball or maybe even sports at that school. That is when our boys basketball team took home the 5A state championship title two years in a row, yea back to back. Not to mention that the now NBA rookie Marcus Smart (funny how the school and him ended up having the same name) was apart of their success. There was heavy criticism of our school concerning mainly Marcus. They accused the team of recruting Marcus, and there were many different rumors but that didn't stop our drive to greatness. My junior year was kind of a sucky year I played basketball since like the third grade I wasn't very good at first but I worked my way up went to training and also practiced a lot more. Bastketball became fun for me and I learned to love not only the game but the whole idea. I loved to watch it on television dreaming about becoming a star player on a big college team, and I loved playing it. Basketball was my one love, but it started to head towards a dead end. The summer just before my junior year I injured myself leading to the end of my basketball career. I had to go through numerous hours of therapy and that is where I began to know what I wanted to do with my life. I wanted to become a physical therapist for athletes. I wanted to help them prevent injury and teach courses and better ways to train in order to devolp the body without straining it. I wanted to eliminate the factor that I and many other athelites have to suffer, injury. So my senior year due to the difficulty and scaring that my torn ACL and meniscus caused I decided that basketball was what I no longer chose to pursue. Being a student athlete is difficult as well as exhausting. So I decided to quit, my senior year I was still apart of the team I would. Just not pursue my dream of playing at a university. My senior year in basketball we made it all the way to third round but lost and that was the end. I will add to this. Blog in my next post😉

Blog #4

Neurosurgeons have been using for the last 10 years a new technology that is a cure to Parkinson's and a number of other diseases. It involves surgically implanting an electrode deep in the brain that delivers jolts of electricity to create a brain stimulation. Although scientists still don't know exactly why or how it effects the brain they have done the surgery on over 75,000 patients. This new technology allows scientist to look at the brain as an electrochemical organ (using electromagnetic energy to function). The procedure requires surgery and the patient must be awake in order for the surgeon to know which location to place the electrode and the level of stimulation to reduce or completely diminish the patients symptoms. Scientist are still researching the mechanisms of the stimulation in order to further improve the procedure. This technology is a success and will continue to be used to treat such cases. In my opinion this technology is great and I hope scientist can continue to discover more about the effects of implanted sensors on the brain. I do have to disagree with the use of animals to test the procedure on, I find it somewhat cruel. Animals should not be used as test projects they should be protected and loved. Its amazing how our brain works and maybe once scientist learn to fully control the stimulants and understand the procedure better we can learn how to maybe awaken the 90% of our brain that is not used, maybe we can unlock a whole lot more that just cures. I enjoyed reading this article and hopefully this technology can further develop soon. A new system abbreviated WINCS has been developed by the Mayo Clinic physicians and has been developed to detect chemical activity in the brain. The electrode is surgically implanted in the brain and scientist are able to record and provide real accurate measurements of chemical levels in the brain. The goal of this is to help direct surgeons on where to place the electrode in the brain during deep brain stimulation so they are able to improve the outcomes of the procedure for the patient. This development with more research can be improved and with the collaboration of scientist, physicians, and engineers more and better of this technology can be accomplished for patients. The Mayo Clinic research was obviously in 2008 and the MIT Technology was in 2010 so you can see how far scientist have come. With the Mayo Clinic test were only being done on animals no humans had received the procedure and in only 2 years technology came so far by treating over 75,000 people. It is now 2014 and I wonder how much researchers have discovered today while studying this new technology and how far it will go in treating patients today. Our brains a much too complex and by research and technology we can on day understand more and more of how our brains work and provide all the clues to the chemistry of our kind.

This blog is a continuTion of my last blog about Project Almanac, the movie.
So Scott is now David, and we left off with David and his friends finding to time machine. After they finished the time machine and decided to run some test trials, on plain objects of course. Starting off slow and eventually making it up to being able to travel back months at a time. (I don't know if I stated this in the last blog or not but.. David's father died on his birthday) when they finally decide to use time travel and travel back in time themselves they go back one day, to yesterday. To see if it worked they go to one of his friends house, which end up being a real scary thing. When you make eye contact with your own self then you start to glitch and slowly disappear from existence. So they have to stay away from themselves. The next time they travel they win the lottery, which they only went back a week for. The next time the set it back further, going back in time a whole month. They go to a concert David falls in love but this time when they come back from the time jump, things change. Accidents that never happened occurred, their own very lives are different and evolved, and they have to find a way to fix this all before it's too late. Things end up getting worse, when they first discovered the technology of the time machine they set some guidelines, no traveling back by yourself. They all agreed to travel with each other each time. David broke the rules to fix things he wanted, to have things go the way he planned and hoped. Eventually things get way out of hand and fast and David only has a matter of time to fix things. David plans to go back in time all the way back to the beginning to when the machine was built, he gets in an argument with his girlfriend who son goes missing, and the cops are searching for David but luckily he gets out in time and jumps back 10 years to his 7th birthday. He meets his dad and gets to see him one last time to seal his fate he destroys they machine and he has to let his dad go knowing that he is going to never see him again. Through the entire story David's sister carried around a video camera recording everything, and the cool part is that the video camera they used was restored and everything was caught on camera. David brought that camera back with him when he traveled back 10 years to see his dad and left it there. So now they get to discover everything all over again. The end

Blog #2

Project Almanac
Before you read this, warning this is a tell all of the movie Project Almanac, a movie that just recently came to theaters and I got to see it this past Thursday Febuary 5th. The movie starts off with a a boy named Scott (honestly I don't remember his name so it's gonn be Scott today, anyways) and he's really smart and the nerd of his class. Scott submits a video of his engineering talents to MIT but only gets 5,000 dollars in scholarship money which it not nearly enough money for him to attend. Scott is devastated because he has worked so hard, his mother knows how badly he wanted to go to the school so because they couldn't afford it she decides to sell their house. There is one last chance Scott has to earn a scholarship and it is to come up with a new and inventive experiment. The back story to Scott's life is his father died on his 7th birthday, Scott's father was a genius and loved him and his family dearly. Scott goes through some of his dad's old things and projects and finds a video camera that used to be his dad's and it shows a tape of his 7th birthday party. Scott and his sister watch the tape and discover something very unusual, he sees himself in the tape but not one two. The younger version of him at 7 and then him currently. There is really no explanation for why he is in the tape and he is completely in awe and confused from the events that have occurred. So Scott calls his two bets friends that are also nerds to help him find out why he is in the tape that is over 10 years old. Scott his sister and his friends go down to the basement where Scott's father used to work on experiments to see if they can find any answers to their unique situation. After searching and uncovering a hidden cabinet in his fathers lab they find a sort of box that is very high tech. They also find blue prints and a file that has equations and spells out on the title (a fancy word for) time travel. Scott and his friends are all crazed about what they just founded and in shock. They soon decide to build the unfinished machine that Scott's father never managed to finish...

That's all for this blog ...I actually remember his name now it's David!

Blog Post #1

Prison Break

Over the winter break I began a new show on Netflix called prison Break it is a somewhat old show but it was just recently introduced to me by a friend. I caught interest in the show immediately because the main character is really hot. His name is Michael and not only is he gorgeoous but a complete mastermind in disguise. I say that because truly he is in disguise, in a prison uniform. Michael's brother in the show Lincoln was falsely accused nd founded guilty, given proof through "evidence" of murdering the Vice President's brother, and sentanced to death. Michael and the ex-girlfriend of Linclon, who is a lawyer, are doing their best on the outside to plead Linclon's innocence. But what they are dealing with is a power way bigger than them. A discrete group called The Company has an agenda and anyone in their way they will take out and the Vice President, soon to be President, is part of it. Reality is that by the time the truth is out Linclon will already be dead, so Michael comes up with a plan. After months of research, and discovering that the prison his brother is being kept in is the one he designed, he develops a map to their escape. This is no ordinary map; in code Michael gets the blueprints of the penitentiary tattooed onto his body. The new ink he has now downloaded onto his skin not only has the buildings layout but everything they need to disappear from society. For Micheal to get sentanced he robs a major bank and is transferred to the Fox Rivers State Penitentiary, where is brother is being held. Michael is facing five years in prison but only has a few months to break out him and his brother before he is executed. While in prison Michael faces many trials, he is bullied by mob members, gets two of his toes cut off with gardening scissors and falls in love with a female doctor who works at the prison. Through all he has gone through Michael never gives up on his brother's life, putting himself last he does all he can in his power to rescue his older brother. As Michael works on the inside, Veronica, Lincoln's ex-girlfriend works on the outside to get his exonerated. But they must all be careful because the hunt is on to keep the secret The Company is so desperate to keep hidden.

Journals cont.

In Class Writing Prompts

Would you rather vacation in Paris or take a three week trip down the Amazon?

I think I would rather take a trip to Paris rather than spend three weeks in the Amazon. Both would be amazing opportunities but for my preference I think I would enjoy Paris more. I love art and I have always dreamed of visiting the Eiffel Tower. As well I would love to go shopping in Paris and explore the city. The Amazon also sounds like a wonderful experience but although I think the outdoors are beautiful I am just not a fan of bugs or trees because of my allergies. I absolutely hate bugs; I think the only bugs I can like tolerate are the ones that don't exist. So Paris is the vacation I would rather take and enjoy.

Does shopping cause people to spend more money?

Yes I do think that shopping causes people to spend more money. I was actually in this exact situation a few days ago, when I went shopping. I went to the mall last weekend, expecting only to buy a couple of things but when I came back to my car hours later I was leaving with about 5 bags worth a total of around $200. And I also put some things on hold in one store because I ran out of money, yes it’s sad. But these things happen, and some people with more obsessive shopping habits are far worse than I am. I don't have an addictive personality at all, as I like to think, but being in the mall shopping seeing all these different sales is very persuasive and luring. You believe you are getting a good deal and stores want you to think that so then once you save money on an item you can spend it on more of their merchandise. But that is just my take on things, in all I do agree that shopping whether it’s online or in a store causes people to spend more money than they originate to.