To all teenagers who go on the internet;
Look, I don’t really have a myspace, facebook, etc. myself. When some program or whatever asks for too much, I normally give them some fake information unless it’s trusted. (I.E. name-Victor Ian King & location-Somewhere over the rainbow) Yeah, I’m one of those “can’t be too careful” types of people, but there are reasons for you to not just say, Hi! I’m ___, I live ___. You probably already know why, but I’ll say so anyway. Sexual predators, people who try to threaten and scare you for fun and people who attempt to make you look bad, on the internet and in the real world. Myspace and Facebook are nice sites and all, but you should probably know a few things about them.
First of all, Myspace has approximately 29,000 registered sex offenders on its site. That’s actually only .016%. No typo. Also, the terms of service on both sites also say that when you give them your information, it’s their property. (Like you read the terms of service at all.) Facebook even had a feature that would allow any user to know what another user has been doing on their website and such. Its users rioted, and the feature was changed around quickly. Another issue is that people have copied other people’s websites to try and steal their identity for various reasons. Groups of people have even attempted to install fear in others by finding out their information and threatening to hurt/rape/kill them. Some people might actually go so far as to try doing that.
What you should probably try doing to defend yourself is to check and make sure that a site is credible enough to give your information to before you do so. Don’t think that someone is safe unless you really know them in real life. But still, try to avoid telling people your information. People can also pretend to know you in real life too. Be careful. Also, don’t open suspicious files and e-mails and stuff. Your information could be obtained from your computer, as well as all of the stuff on it. Make sure you have a virus protection program, because you don’t need to tell someone your information to lose it. On last thing, prevent your friends and family from giving away your information, because their information is your information most of the time. (Like your school, state and maybe your house)
Don’t get too freaked out about this, but do be aware. And another thing, you should probably tell your friends and family and such to do the same. If your friend spews out your name all of the time, then he might be giving away his own information away, including his school, which is probably your school. Or at least your state. My name may be out on the internet, but there are seriously thousands of people with my name.
This site is why I’m not afraid to tell you my first name.
www.howmanyofme.com – you are not alone.
Just be aware, and don’t think it can’t happen to you. (Unless you don’t have an e-mail address, which probably isn’t true if you are reading this.)
Wednesday, August 1, 2007
Friday, July 27, 2007
Letter to the Volunteering Editor
The class has written letters to people in charge about their cause. I chose to write to the Chairman of the Board of Directors in the Corporation for National Community Service. (Basically the guy in charge of volunteering) I'm not giving you predators my information, so I took it out. >:D (My name is real since there are thousands of people named Joshua anyway.) I doubt the guy cares if I tell his info, since you can get it from a website easily.
Stephen Goldsmith
Kennedy School of Government
Mailbox 101
79 JFK Street
Cambridge, MA 02138-5801
Dear Mr. Goldsmith:
My name is __________, and I’m writing this letter for the purpose of giving you, the Chairman of the Board of Directors, in the Corporation for National Community Service, a new way to possibly improve all of the aspects of your department. I’m sure you have done many things to help our society and created many ways for people to help, but I would appreciate it if you focused more on the children’s aspect of your department. Supporting volunteering among today’s youth is a noble endeavor, and it helps inspire a spirit of volunteering in the next generation. By making a decision to put more money and effort into youth volunteering organizations, you support your children, your grandchildren, and the future overall. You do not need to be in control over the youth department to do so.
Since you are in charge of the nation’s volunteering organization, you obviously desire to help people. Why not save two birds with one dollar? By encouraging more children to volunteer, you help them as well. Not only that, but you also help the environment through volunteering. By supporting volunteering organizations directed towards children, and enabling more children to volunteer, you can actually prevent children from using their free time to engage in bad decision making. Volunteering will also aid in broadening children’s college choices and education abilities. By volunteering, children may also learn abundant life lessons that will be valuable in their family life.
I chose to write this letter to you to promote programs for teenagers to get active. When more teenagers volunteer, I’m sure that many crime rates will drop. By supporting volunteering amongst teens you can spark a volunteering spirit in many teens, and you may just help to inspire someone to help improve the world. You may also try to spread our volunteer programs worldwide to enhance lives across the globe. I’m sure you are a very busy person, so I thank you for your time. I hope you will consider my idea to support teenage volunteering more thoroughly, and even if you do not, I hope you will continue in your success and improve our country greatly.
Sincerely,
You know who.
Stephen Goldsmith
Kennedy School of Government
Mailbox 101
79 JFK Street
Cambridge, MA 02138-5801
Dear Mr. Goldsmith:
My name is __________, and I’m writing this letter for the purpose of giving you, the Chairman of the Board of Directors, in the Corporation for National Community Service, a new way to possibly improve all of the aspects of your department. I’m sure you have done many things to help our society and created many ways for people to help, but I would appreciate it if you focused more on the children’s aspect of your department. Supporting volunteering among today’s youth is a noble endeavor, and it helps inspire a spirit of volunteering in the next generation. By making a decision to put more money and effort into youth volunteering organizations, you support your children, your grandchildren, and the future overall. You do not need to be in control over the youth department to do so.
Since you are in charge of the nation’s volunteering organization, you obviously desire to help people. Why not save two birds with one dollar? By encouraging more children to volunteer, you help them as well. Not only that, but you also help the environment through volunteering. By supporting volunteering organizations directed towards children, and enabling more children to volunteer, you can actually prevent children from using their free time to engage in bad decision making. Volunteering will also aid in broadening children’s college choices and education abilities. By volunteering, children may also learn abundant life lessons that will be valuable in their family life.
I chose to write this letter to you to promote programs for teenagers to get active. When more teenagers volunteer, I’m sure that many crime rates will drop. By supporting volunteering amongst teens you can spark a volunteering spirit in many teens, and you may just help to inspire someone to help improve the world. You may also try to spread our volunteer programs worldwide to enhance lives across the globe. I’m sure you are a very busy person, so I thank you for your time. I hope you will consider my idea to support teenage volunteering more thoroughly, and even if you do not, I hope you will continue in your success and improve our country greatly.
Sincerely,
You know who.
Thursday, July 19, 2007
My first post topic: Teenage Volunteering
Well, here it is! My first actual blog post. I’m not allowed to just randomly shoot out saying a bunch of nonsense like a lot of other people, oh no. I’m supposed to get a bunch of information, AND THEN say all the stuff I want to. :)
Teenage Volunteering
My topic I’m addressing may involve what a lot of us (I’m no exception) may do on a daily basis. We turn on the computer/video game/TV and waste hours doing things that don’t really do much but waste our lives. Yes, we can learn about culture and how people think and all of that, but that’s not the point. What I’m saying is that we all need to “get a life”. I’m sick of this saying, because who’s to determine what “a life” really is? I’m going to go out on a limb and say that spending hours “exercising your fingers” isn’t the best idea for one. (Even if that’s what you’re doing…) But it’s okay to do that stuff, I’m just saying that we should use some of our time for being a bit more self-less. Volunteering. I’m not saying you don’t already help out every now and then; I’m trying to get you to do it more often. (STAY AWAY FROM THE OFF BUTTON PLEASE)
Look, you probably already know about the millions of people everywhere who have issues and need help, and all of the litter and broken down places in the world. Just saying, it’s kind of rude to just ignore it all. Look, there are a lot of people on the job now, but it’s not like it’s all covered. YOU have to DO SOMETHING. If you’re interested in volunteering, there is a load of ways in which to help your community. You might already know this, but there’s actually a National Youth Service Day. Even though it’s a “day”, it’s from April 11-13. (Why can’t it be day(s) or better yet a week?) “Since 1988, National Youth Service Day has harnessed the power of more than 22 million people in thousands of communities nationwide.” (Junior Scholastic, 1) Why can’t you be part of those millions, or even help make it higher?
There are a lot of organizations that would be delighted to have you help their cause. Remember “Friends don’t let friends drive drunk”? (Hopefully so.) That came from SADD, “Students against Destructive Decisions”. SADD was started in 1981 as “Students against Driving Drunk”, an organization dedicated to help teens by using the influences that encourage drinking (like peer pressure and role-models) to their advantage by making peers and role-models who are against it. Slogans like “Friends Don’t let Friends Drive Drunk” and SADD’s positive influence have decreased the deaths or teenagers everywhere from drinking and driving by 60 percent. (Cooke, 1) (I find it ironic that a name like SADD would bring such a positive influence. :)) The name SADD was changed to Students against Destructive Decisions in 1997 to expand their reach as teenagers were susceptible to more and more ways of making decisions that are destructive. (How convenient)
SADD is a popular method for volunteering, because they have chapters (branches) everywhere across America. But don’t consider it the only method. When I searched for articles about volunteers, I was a bit surprised to find hundreds of them. All the more opportunity for you to start helping out in your community. (And less chances to make an excuse. >;)) But don’t think that you need to find some already established foundation to start helping others. Teens everywhere have begun their own adventures to improve their world and others. Now here’s my GIANT list of teens that’ve done so and have become the top 10 youth volunteers of 2002. (This is just to make it look like I’ve done a lot of work. :p)
1. “ASHLEIGH CROWE of Suffield, Conn., organized a volunteer group called Ashleigh's Army to help improve living conditions and education in a small Dominican Republic village.
2. Francesca Tenconi of Walnut Creek, Calif., founded the Children's Skin Disease Foundation and raised more than $100,000 to support research and start a summer camp for children with skin diseases.
3. William Dunckelman of Houma, La., started a national program that brings fine arts programs to senior citizens via audio cassettes, videos, and literary collections.
4. Lauren Echstenkamper, 18, of Osprey, Fla., collected books and recorded books on tape to help elementary school students learn to read.
5. Christopher Teel, 18, of Evergreen, Colo., has orchestrated several projects aimed at alleviating hunger, including raising money for a kids' meal program, recruiting volunteers for a food bank, providing clothing to migrant workers and low-income Hispanic fathers, and working with a trucking company to donate truck space and labor to ship items to the needy.
6. Nina Vasan, 18, of Vienna, W. Va., founded a nationwide network of teen volunteers in 44 states called ACS Teens to support the American Cancer Society.
7. Christopher Clark, 13, of Cleveland, Ohio, created the Christmas Angel Project to provide gifts for children from poor families.
8. Stacey Hillman, 11, of Casselberry, Fla., has raised more than $150,000 to buy 175 bulletproof vests for Florida's police dogs.
9. Anna Johnson, 14, of Wilson, N.C., has raised $35,000 to benefit the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation (she is afflicted with the genetic disease) through yard sales, a Kiss Your Baby photo contest, bake sales, and a letter-writing campaign.
10. Daniel Nally, 14, of Westwood, Mass., founded Turkeys `R' Us, which has provided more than 12,000 free Thanksgiving turkeys to needy families over the past six years.” (Poland, 1)
So you see, it’s obvious that people have made their own ways to help others, (fame not guaranteed) and there’s always the option of already joining a group. Volunteering is a noble cause, it helps you get into colleges, and it may feel good to do something good. Volunteer for something, whatever it may be! You shouldn’t have to commit a crime to do community service. :)
Works Cited
Cooke, Barbara. "SADD: Using Peer Power to Fight Drugs." Current Health 2 Mar. 2004. InfoTrac OneFile. Detroit. 12 July 2007. http://find.galegroup.com/itx/infomark.do?&contentSet=IAC-Documents&type=retrieve&tabID=T003&prodId=ITOF&docId=A114477559&source=gale&srcprod=ITOF&userGroupName=lom_udetmercy&version=1.0.
"Get Involved." Junior Scholastic 28 Mar. 2003. InfoTrac OneFile. Detroit. 13 July 2007 http://find.galegroup.com/itx/infomark.do?&contentSet=IAC-Documents&type=retrieve&tabID=T003&prodId=ITOF&docId=A99821195&source=gale&srcprod=ITOF&userGroupName=lom_udetmercy&version=1.0.
Poland, Scott. "The Spirit of Giving is Alive Among Teenagers." American Thought July 2002. InfoTrac OneFile. Detroit. 13 July 2007 http://find.galegroup.com/itx/infomark.do?&contentSet=IAC-Documents&type=retrieve&tabID=T003&prodId=ITOF&docId=A90683562&source=gale&srcprod=ITOF&userGroupName=lom_udetmercy&version=1.0.
Teenage Volunteering
My topic I’m addressing may involve what a lot of us (I’m no exception) may do on a daily basis. We turn on the computer/video game/TV and waste hours doing things that don’t really do much but waste our lives. Yes, we can learn about culture and how people think and all of that, but that’s not the point. What I’m saying is that we all need to “get a life”. I’m sick of this saying, because who’s to determine what “a life” really is? I’m going to go out on a limb and say that spending hours “exercising your fingers” isn’t the best idea for one. (Even if that’s what you’re doing…) But it’s okay to do that stuff, I’m just saying that we should use some of our time for being a bit more self-less. Volunteering. I’m not saying you don’t already help out every now and then; I’m trying to get you to do it more often. (STAY AWAY FROM THE OFF BUTTON PLEASE)
Look, you probably already know about the millions of people everywhere who have issues and need help, and all of the litter and broken down places in the world. Just saying, it’s kind of rude to just ignore it all. Look, there are a lot of people on the job now, but it’s not like it’s all covered. YOU have to DO SOMETHING. If you’re interested in volunteering, there is a load of ways in which to help your community. You might already know this, but there’s actually a National Youth Service Day. Even though it’s a “day”, it’s from April 11-13. (Why can’t it be day(s) or better yet a week?) “Since 1988, National Youth Service Day has harnessed the power of more than 22 million people in thousands of communities nationwide.” (Junior Scholastic, 1) Why can’t you be part of those millions, or even help make it higher?
There are a lot of organizations that would be delighted to have you help their cause. Remember “Friends don’t let friends drive drunk”? (Hopefully so.) That came from SADD, “Students against Destructive Decisions”. SADD was started in 1981 as “Students against Driving Drunk”, an organization dedicated to help teens by using the influences that encourage drinking (like peer pressure and role-models) to their advantage by making peers and role-models who are against it. Slogans like “Friends Don’t let Friends Drive Drunk” and SADD’s positive influence have decreased the deaths or teenagers everywhere from drinking and driving by 60 percent. (Cooke, 1) (I find it ironic that a name like SADD would bring such a positive influence. :)) The name SADD was changed to Students against Destructive Decisions in 1997 to expand their reach as teenagers were susceptible to more and more ways of making decisions that are destructive. (How convenient)
SADD is a popular method for volunteering, because they have chapters (branches) everywhere across America. But don’t consider it the only method. When I searched for articles about volunteers, I was a bit surprised to find hundreds of them. All the more opportunity for you to start helping out in your community. (And less chances to make an excuse. >;)) But don’t think that you need to find some already established foundation to start helping others. Teens everywhere have begun their own adventures to improve their world and others. Now here’s my GIANT list of teens that’ve done so and have become the top 10 youth volunteers of 2002. (This is just to make it look like I’ve done a lot of work. :p)
1. “ASHLEIGH CROWE of Suffield, Conn., organized a volunteer group called Ashleigh's Army to help improve living conditions and education in a small Dominican Republic village.
2. Francesca Tenconi of Walnut Creek, Calif., founded the Children's Skin Disease Foundation and raised more than $100,000 to support research and start a summer camp for children with skin diseases.
3. William Dunckelman of Houma, La., started a national program that brings fine arts programs to senior citizens via audio cassettes, videos, and literary collections.
4. Lauren Echstenkamper, 18, of Osprey, Fla., collected books and recorded books on tape to help elementary school students learn to read.
5. Christopher Teel, 18, of Evergreen, Colo., has orchestrated several projects aimed at alleviating hunger, including raising money for a kids' meal program, recruiting volunteers for a food bank, providing clothing to migrant workers and low-income Hispanic fathers, and working with a trucking company to donate truck space and labor to ship items to the needy.
6. Nina Vasan, 18, of Vienna, W. Va., founded a nationwide network of teen volunteers in 44 states called ACS Teens to support the American Cancer Society.
7. Christopher Clark, 13, of Cleveland, Ohio, created the Christmas Angel Project to provide gifts for children from poor families.
8. Stacey Hillman, 11, of Casselberry, Fla., has raised more than $150,000 to buy 175 bulletproof vests for Florida's police dogs.
9. Anna Johnson, 14, of Wilson, N.C., has raised $35,000 to benefit the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation (she is afflicted with the genetic disease) through yard sales, a Kiss Your Baby photo contest, bake sales, and a letter-writing campaign.
10. Daniel Nally, 14, of Westwood, Mass., founded Turkeys `R' Us, which has provided more than 12,000 free Thanksgiving turkeys to needy families over the past six years.” (Poland, 1)
So you see, it’s obvious that people have made their own ways to help others, (fame not guaranteed) and there’s always the option of already joining a group. Volunteering is a noble cause, it helps you get into colleges, and it may feel good to do something good. Volunteer for something, whatever it may be! You shouldn’t have to commit a crime to do community service. :)
Works Cited
Cooke, Barbara. "SADD: Using Peer Power to Fight Drugs." Current Health 2 Mar. 2004. InfoTrac OneFile. Detroit. 12 July 2007
"Get Involved." Junior Scholastic 28 Mar. 2003. InfoTrac OneFile. Detroit. 13 July 2007 http://find.galegroup.com/itx/infomark.do?&contentSet=IAC-Documents&type=retrieve&tabID=T003&prodId=ITOF&docId=A99821195&source=gale&srcprod=ITOF&userGroupName=lom_udetmercy&version=1.0.
Poland, Scott. "The Spirit of Giving is Alive Among Teenagers." American Thought July 2002. InfoTrac OneFile. Detroit. 13 July 2007 http://find.galegroup.com/itx/infomark.do?&contentSet=IAC-Documents&type=retrieve&tabID=T003&prodId=ITOF&docId=A90683562&source=gale&srcprod=ITOF&userGroupName=lom_udetmercy&version=1.0.
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Whoop-de-doo.
I have my own little blog now. Unfortunately I hardly have control over what I say and do in it. This is all just a part of a summer program I'm doing. I may make my own blog thin gone day, but for now I can't just type in anything. Hence the stupid name. The layout is OK, but I wanted more options. I can speak 3% of my mental capacity here, (which may be too much, ^__^) but I'll try to get out some stuff which is funny/serious/inspiring/who am I kidding. Ah well. Let the blogging begin!
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