Alan Khazei is running for Kennedy's recently vacated seat in Senate. His mother was a nurse and father was a doctor so he has lots of concerns towards health care and the U.S. plans for health care. He has good points as to why we should have national healthcare much like Canada but it doesn't necessarily mean it is the right approach for our economy. This is a very arguable topic with good points from both sides of the argument. Only time will be able to tell what choice is made and if it was the right choice to make.

picture from http://www.alanforsenate.com/

Teens Online

This Chart is from http://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2005/Teens-and-Technology/03-Basic-Demographics-of-Online-Teens-and-Their-Families/3-Most-teens-have-logged-on-by-the-7th-grade.aspx?r=1

3 Observations I Made

1) The biggest jump of teens online is from 6th grade to 7th grade. 6th graders use of online is just under 60% and jumps up to 82% for 7th graders. This is probably because of social networks, more of them are connecting through facebook or other websites like that.

2) 6th grade boys are the reason for the low percentage of online users in their grade. 44% of 6th grade boys use online compared to 79% of 6th grade girls using it. This is probably because they aren't interested in online activities, not really interested in girls yet, just want to play sports and be outside.

3) Online use levels out in 11th and 12th grade at 94% because if they aren't using online by then it is more of a personal choice.

Generations use of Internet

This chart comes from... http://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2009/Generations-Online-in-2009/Generational-Differences-in-Online-Activities/2-Internet-use-and-email.aspx

3 observations I made while overlooking this site and chart.

1) The Age Group 70-75 has had the largest increase in online users out of any age gropu from 2005 to 2008; jumping from 26% to 45%.

2) The age group 12-17 leads all age groups in online use at just over 90%, this is probably because they have more in class courses they help them increase their knowledge on the internet compared to the older groups.

3) Email is the most popular online activity, 74% of the people surveyed over 64 said they used email. However, email popularity has decreased amongst teens, 89% said they used it in 2004 and now only 73% say they use email. This is probably because of all the new social networks such as facebook, myspace, and twitter.

Global Warming

According to http://people-press.org/report/556/global-warming

Americans belief in Global Warming has declind dramatically. From April 2008 to April 2009 the percentage of people who felt there was solid evidence of Global Warming decreased from 71% to 57%. Even those who felt it to be a threat dropped more then 10% from 2008 to 2009.

Obama Wins Nobel Peace Prize

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33237202/ns/politics-white_house?GT1=43001 - article

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/33238168#33238168 - video

Obama wasn't the only one surprised by him being honored with the Nobel Peace Prize. Obama said in msnbc article, "I am both surprised and deeply humbled." The thing that shocks me about this is he is only the third president to be awarded the prize and it is so early in his term of service. I do understand their efforts to push Obama's new policies.... Hopefully it works.

News Sites from politicsone.com

3 Sites I looked over on http://www.politicsone.com/news.htm were:

1) http://www.thedailyshow.com/
On this site you can watch clips from the Daily Show With Jon Stewart. There are videos of his on show interviews. The reason I like this site is because I watch the show and Jon Stewart actually has a good grasp on what is going on in U.S. politics and internationally but uses humor as well (infotainment).

2) http://www.theonion.com/content/index
The Onion is a news source that is very opinionated and takes the harsher side of a story and adds humor to it. I like this site because they have the wackiest stories, and it's easier for me to read along with something if I'm laughing with it.

3) http://www.thesmokinggun.com/
The smoking gun is a website with celebrity mugshots. The homepage as a featured document and mug shot of the week which involves a funny and weird case. I like this site because it is pretty funny to see celbrity mug shots and what they got in trouble for.

Degrees of Access

5 Observations I made while overlooking the slideshow:

1) The percentages between those who use the internet or email is not much different from owning the cell phone( College grads: 92% internet or email use, 89% own a cell phone).

2) English-Speaking Hispanics led all ethnicitys in internet and email use with 80% (whites next closest woith 75%).

3) People with no high school degree was at 44%. It was probably so low because those people don't necessarilly have the funds or the technical know how to use the internet or email.

4) I thought men would be a little higher then women in internet in email use, they were both at 73%. The information I went over last time from pewinternet showed that men used it more.

5) I would have thought College Graduates would have been higher in both internet and email use and ownership of a cell phone (Internet and email use-91%, Ownership of cell phone- 89%), because they are the age group that tends to try and stay in touch with old college and high school friends.