Politics and You!

With the 2012 presidential election coming up, your friendly neighborhood Anarchist Communist is here to help you, once again!

Democrats

• Universal healthcare
• People have to buy healthcare, and companies have to accept them
• Helping the unemployed
• Free speech
• Anti-SOPA/PIPA (Depends on the Congressman/woman)
• Pro-Occupy protesters (Again, on an individual basis)
• Higher taxes for the rich
• They have more money, so they should pay more
• Lower taxes for the poor and middle class
• They have less money, so they should pay less
• Environment friendly
• Solar power
• Getting rid of subsidies to oil companies
• The oil companies have been making more money than they have ever before
• Anti-war

Democrats wish for the people with more money to pay more money, and the ones with less to pay less, which just makes sense. They also want the government to help poor people get back on their feet and get a job.

Republicans

• Nothing is free
• No benefits
• No government help
• Lower taxes on the rich
• So that they have more money to create jobs, known as “Trickle-Down Economics”
• Proven not to work
• Higher taxes on the poor and middle class
• Because they have to tax someone
• Subsidies to oil companies
• Even though they make record profits, more in a day than the average American makes in a year.
• Anti-free Speech
• SOPA
• PIPA
• ACTA
• PCIP
• Arresting Occupy protesters
• Anti-environment
• Keystone Pipeline
• Pro-war

Republicans wish to lower the taxes on the rich, because they are all rich, and raise the taxes on the poor and middle class because they are “Stinky hippies who need to get a job” even though it’s the Republicans that are laying off workers by the thousands to save more money for that yacht. They don’t want to help any poor people with benefits because that would cost them money that they could have.

~Mein Identity Keeps Esoteric

Khan Academy

  Perhaps you have heard about this revolutionary new way of teaching. It takes learning with technology to a whole different level. The online-education career of Salman Khan, a former hedge fund analyst, began when he was tutoring his cousin over the internet using Yahoo's doodle pad. Then Khan decided that making YouTube videos for the public to learn would be beneficial. Therefore he began making videos, starting with the fundamentals. YouTube was indeed a good idea. Being that it's so easy to share videos and such, Khan's video hit the 20,000's. This prompted him to make more and more videos, slowly building up from the fundamentals and teaching the more difficult mathematics like Geometry, Algebra II and Pre-Calculus.    
   However, this was before. Before what, you may ask? Well, before Khan started his own little company called Khan Academy (go figure), before classrooms used his videos to teach their students, and before he built up a library of over 3,000 videos of learning material.
    Many schools have started using Khan Academy to teach their students. One classroom has the students using laptops to learn the material from Khan's videos, do practice at home with it, then take a test on the subject. There has been a significant rise in test grades, according to teachers.
  Another benefit of using Khan's online Academy is that you can access it anywhere if you have the internet. If perhaps, you didn't understand a concept in class and you didn't know what to do, then you could easily access Khan's YouTube Channel and find the lesson there. You can pause, re-watch, and skip as little and as much as you'd like, making learning your own pace.
   Khan has talked about teaching other subjects, such as Social Studies or Science. This would make Khan Academy even more versatile, therefore more successful. The best part about Khan Academy is that it's 100% free. No paying, no super-plus membership. It's education for free.
   So if you're having trouble with a math concept, then check out Khan Academy, because after you watch one of his videos, you'll be a pro in no time. Check out the link below, and remember it as a learning asset.
    Happy learning!

https://www.youtube.com/user/khanacademy 
 
 
 

Happy Spring Break!

~SPRING BREAK!~


It's coming, guys.


By 3:10 today, we will be free for a whole 168 hours.


That's a lot.


Tick, tick, tick..




Anyway, so that this article isn't meaningless, how are ya'll gonna spend your spring break?


If anyone cares, I'm going to New York. :D

FOUR DOLLARS? Really?

Welp, guys.

We’re screwed.

I’m done. No, seriously, I’m done with this economy. I’M MOVING TO CANADA! The freakin’ gas prices went up to four bucks a gallon! What is this blasphemy?! Was $3.59 not enough for them? Didn’t the US just strike oil like a month ago? If we have more gas, we don’t need to raise the price! Come on, people. Plus, you know what? The price is still rising as we speak! Us as North Carolinians aren’t paying too much.. we’re in-between Hawaii($4.55 a gallon) and Wyoming($3.51 a gallon).

I bet you’re thinking, ‘Why should I care? It’s my parents problem.’ Heheh, well.. At this rate, by the time you’re old enough to be kicked out of the nest, the gas prices will be something like $10 a gallon, and you’ll be a measly college student searching for ways to earn money just so you can fill your tank. I’m telling you; if you guys don’t build up a nest egg soon, you’re going to have trouble when you’re older.

Pope Benedict XVI

Pope Benedict went to Mexico on Saturday 23 2012 in Silao Guanajuato. After 14 hours on a plane everybody was waiting for him and he was on TV to show his arrival. After 3 days in Mexico he did a mass beneath Cristo Rey, a famous Catholic place were a statue of Jesus is on top of a mountain. This represents that God is in our hearts. This mountain is about 3,000 ft tall. This is very important because when Mexico was in their final stages of revolution Cristo Rey was destroyed but in 1950. However, they built a bigger Cristo Rey.  This was important to the people because Pope Benedict has never come to Mexico before. Only Pope Juan Pablo II has visited Mexico.  Pope Benedict’s hope was that Mexico would stop all this violence that is going on and that Mexico can have peace like we did before.

Many Smith students will be hosting a middle or high school student from St. Benoit, St. Servais School. St. Benoit, St. Servais is a school in the city of Liege, Belgium. The 8th grade students at Smith have been in contact with the students by email, facebook, skype and letters. Most students have been talking to them since the start of 8th grade but, some of them have been in contact with them since last year. Even people that aren't hosting a student will get the chance to do activities and meet with their penpals. The Belgians will first go to the Windy City (Chicago) and get to see what big cities in America are like. Then on April 3 they will fly to RDU and be met by their host families. They will have two days to hang out with their host. Families can go to the beach, the mountains, or just stay in Chapel Hill. There are many events planned like tours of UNC, baseball games, and going out to lunch. Friday and Saturday are free days because of Easter and Passover. Then on Sunday, The students from Belgium and America will be going to WIlliamsburg, Virginia together. They will tour the historic city of Jamestown, spend the night at a hotel,tour historic WIlliamsburg, and go to Busch Gardens. After missing the first day back to school, the students will shadow the classes on Tuesday and then go shopping in the afternoon. A going away party will be held and then they will have to go home.
The students from Belgium hope to improve their English, while the students from here will be trying to improve their French. Also there will hopefully be international friendships made after the trip.  The students have a lot of time to spend with their Belgian. Many students are nervous about having so much one on one time with someone who speaks little English. But, with the guidance and help of Madame McMahon, and other students who have hosted or traveled before, it should be mostly smiles.
Over the next few days you may see posters, signs and information welcoming the students and teachers coming to our school. When they are at our school, be very welcoming as well. Maybe even say "Salut" or "Bonjour" to them if you see one!! 


~~~Sally Levin

Temple Run for Android!!!

You have stolen a cursed idol from a temple and now you have to run for life from evil monkeys!  This is the story line for the addicting game from Imangi Studios, Temple Run.  Before yesterday the only way you could experience this adventure was through an iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad, but now it is out for android.  Download here.  Some things have changes, like the glitch that allowed you to run forever in tutorial mode has been fixed, so now you actually have to work to get 24,000,000 points.  You can download to any android phone that has android 2.1 or higher.  Have fun!

Avatar the Legend of Korra

This Saturday Nickelodeon pre-released the first two episodes of the continuation of the beloved Avatar the Last Airbender series. It takes place 70 years after the end of the 100 year war. The title scene that used to be narrated by Katara is now narrated by her son Tenzin. Although Aang is now dead, Katara is still alive and is helping Korra to become a full Avatar. In the 70 years that are not covered by the series, Aang and his gang built a city that resembles New York City. There are hobos, gangsters, a park in the middle of the city, a copper statue of Aang and cars. It is sad that the world of Avatar has become more industrious but also very cool. The city is known as Republic City, and Aang's goal was to make it the capitol of peace in the world, but it is becoming quite the opposite. The police force are metal-benders that learned the technique from Toph and her children. Toph's daughter, is the head of the police force and is a very strict, serious and mean lady. Korra is unwilling to learn airbending until she realizes its practicality during a pro-bending match. Pro-bending is a new sport in the world of Avatar in which two teams of an earthbender, a waterbender and a firebender try to knock each other off a platform into water. However the main conflict in the story involves all benders.  There is an evil man named Amon who is trying to ban all bending! He and his followers are protesting in the streets and doing other small things. However, that is about to change. Later in the season Amon is going to make a frontal attack to all benders. Much more drama and character development will also unfold in the following months after it's official release on April 14th.

The Hunger Games

The Hunger Games movie came out last Friday, and daaaaaaaaaaang, did that movie prosper. So far it’s grossed out $214.3 million dollars! In FOUR DAYS! The movie is the third most-watched-on-opening day movie of all time, after the Dark Knight and the last Harry Potter. And for all you Twilight haters out there, the movie is twice as successful than the first one of the Twilight series. Kudos, guys! The movie was created by the Hollywood studio “Lionsgate”, and is the first blockbuster for it. Lionsgate has created movies other than The Hunger Games, but you might not know of them. The most famous ones are the Saw series and the Tyler Perry series. I dunno about you, but I’d think that The Hunger Games is now the most popular out of them. Plus, it was shot in NC! That seriously spiked the tourism for Asheville. Be proud of your state, kids! And anyway, who wouldn’t love The Hunger Games? Mitt Romney likes it, why shouldn’t you? `