Dalton Sherman

It's amazing that Dalton Sherman is such a terrific public speaker. What's even more impressive is that he's in the 5th grade. I think that it was really nice that he was a speaker at the Dallas school district convocation and was able to speak to everyone who worked in the district and inspire them. He reminded them that the kids need someone to believe in them, that they need to believe in themselves, and that they need to believe in their collegues. What most people don't think about is that teachers and school faculty might be the only people that they have to care about them and change their lives for the better. I think that every school district should have a truly inspiring convocation speech such as this one. If it happened every student would not only pass classes, but graduate and do well instead of fall into gangs or dropout.

Aquinas Article-- Bored to death

In April a commenary in the Internation Journal of Epidemiology, the more bored you are the more likely you will die earlier. however, the state of boredom alone isn't waht will kill you; it's everything else it leads to like self-medication through drinking and drugs, smoking or even leading to psychological problems. In the study, it was reported that the people who were surveyed as bored with their jobs in 1985-1988 were two and a half times more likely to die of a heart problem. But, with an adjustment was made when the reserachers factored in physical activity and employment grade, which lowered the results. Even thought he research is preliminary, other scientists say that there is a link between boredom and increased heart problems. they say that someone who is bored is less motivated to exercise, eat well and live an overall healthy lifestyle.

I think that this may be true because if you're bored or uninterested, you'll engage in something, no matter what it is, for the sake of just doing something different or just doing something at all. I think that it makes a connection between those who consume large about of alcohol and suffer from drug abuse, because many people do it because it's "fun" or they're "bored and have nothing else to do, so why not?"

Diana, Princes of Wales

In 1961 she was born Diana Spencer. Early into her childhood her parents divorced; her father gaining custody of her and her two sisters, Jane and Sarah. Her father inherited the title Earl Spencer in 1975, thus making her Lady Diana. She was very fond of children and ultimately became a kindergarten teacher at the Young England School in London. Her marriage to Prince Charles, in 1981, was televised with people around the world tuning in to what was the 'wedding of the century'. In 1982 Prince William Arthur Phillip Louis was born, and three years later Prince Henry Charles Albert David was born. After that Diana became heavily involved in many charities, working with homeless people and those living with HIV and AIDS, as well as needy children. Over the years she became estranged from her husband and they were offically divorced in 1996. She died tragically in a car crash with her Egyptian boyfriend Dodi Al-Fayed after trying to escape the paparazzi on August 30, 1997.

She was a very influential speaker and spoke on topics such as eating disorders, women and children with AIDS, and care in the community.

The World is Flat

I felt that the lecture by Thomas Friedman was very engaging, especially since he's a writer for the New York Times. I didn't expect it to grab my attention as quickly or as much as it actually did. I found out a bunch of crazy things that I never would've thought twice about. One of which is that the United States Postal Services messes around with computers. I didn't think that their knowledge went beyond any machine that sorted mail, or as I like to put it, destroys your mail. The main idea in this lecture is that the technological world is forever changing-- and faster than you know.

It's kind of a scary thought to imagine that our generation work force has quadrupled. That really makes it come down to the bone for who gets the job, or even a job. I think that section might have gotten a lot of attention from current college students and graduates because not only are they competing with the entire United States for a job, but they're also competing with everyone on the globe that has been fortunate enough to have the same amount and quality of education. That means that everyone has to step up their game or they won't make it in these crazy times. This wasn't really something that I'd thought very much about being a biology major. My general way of thinking is that there are so many disciplines within that category and so much that has yet to be studied and discovered that I should have no problem finding my niche. I usually fail to take into account the other developed countries that students and researchers study in, the ones that have better research on forbidden things like stem cells. Reality is now creeping up on me thanks to Thomas Friedman.