The Ethics of Autonomous Cars

    In the Wired.com article that we had read in class, it discusses autonomous cars. In one of the scenarios, your autonomous car was out of control and could either crash into a mini cooper or an SUV. At first glance I would say SUV, because the SUV is bigger and therefore the person driving it would receive less damage then if I had crashed into the mini cooper. But if we were to program a car to have a mind-set to crash into a person just because their car might be bigger, then were choosing a life over another. Imagine a mother buying a large van, in order to have room for her kids and in hopes of it being safer. Well she goes out on the road and has no idea that if the autonomous car next to her were to go out of control it would choose to crash into her over the mini cooper on the other side.
    Another scenario is there is a motorcyclist without a helmet and one wearing a helmet. You have to choose which one to crash into. Once again at first glance I would most likely choose to crash into the one wearing the helmet, because he would statistically have a higher chance of living. If we were to program a car to hit a man wearing a helmet, versus one not, then were punishing the one man for most likely following the rules. This doesn't seem fair. In the end more people would end up not wearing helmets, in thinking that they would be safer.
    An idea that could be viewed as a solution would have the car make decisions through a random number generator. For example, before a crash the car would do a random algorithm and if the number is even the car turns right and if odd turns left. Personally, the whole concept of cars driving themselves is weird to me and I would rather just not have the idea all together. But it will eventually happen, and therefore a crashing system needs to be put in order. Having the car randomly choose what or where to crash is like a person making a random decision at the last moment. I honestly, think this idea is logical in a way that isn't logical. Meaning logically we would have the car be programmed to hit something that would cause the least damage, but since that can cause personnel problems the logical answer would have the car choose randomly.
    This comes to the question asked by Alexander Karasulas. If the driver is not making control decisions, should the driver be responsible for any outcomes at all? Clearly the person can not be held accountable if the car swerves and cut someones off or causes an accident due to a malfunction. But, if the person entered the car and messed with the controls, then yes they themselves can be held accountable for the outcome. For example, maybe someone who is drunk gets into an autonomous car and doesn't properly uses the car. An accident then occurs. The driver would be held accountable for not allowing the car to safely drive.

Passion Project #3

Since my last update I have memorized how to say the Russian alphabet, and I was able to work on my pronunciation by consulting the lady at my church, Ms. Irena. I practiced writing out the symbols multiple times, and have gotten accustomed to the way they are presented. I have started to put all the information into a Powerpoint, in hopes of getting a head start. Lastly, I have translated some words on my Powerpoint to Russian. These are my accomplishments since my last update. Although they may seem small, they are huge in my eyes and I will now be able to smoothly continue my project.

Passion Project #2

My newest update is both successful and a learning experience. I have a slight background history about how the Russian language came to be, which I'm very happy about finding. I learned information about the alphabet. For example, how many letters there are, which one are vowels, and which one are signs. The challenge though is that the first time I learned how to say the Russian alphabet, a friend was teaching me, so it was face to face and so much easier to learn. Now I have to find different websites that can help with pronunciation. Fortunately there is a lady at my church that speaks Russian (forgot to mention this when I was introducing my passion project). She offered to help me, which I'm extremely grateful for. During these last two weeks I learned that sometimes I can expect something to happen, but it won't always go that way. I mean if you look at my "schedule" I made for this project I was already suppose to know the alphabet by heart and this hasn't happened yet. I realized that learning the alphabet is the key to my project and that I can't really rush this goal.

Passion Project Update #1

I've only had one Passion Project so far, and that day was spent organizing. I made a chart that described what I wanted to learn each week. My goal is to teach myself basic Russian in twelve weeks. I know I won't be glued to my "schedule", and that I will switch around what I learn, but I just wanted to have a basic understanding of what I'm doing. This up coming week I'm going to learn about the background of the Russian language. How it came to be, and if it changed in any way to be what it is today?

UPDATE FOR PASSION PROJECT: WWII
     For this passion project I decided to do it on WWII. I have always been interested on the events that had occurred, but only knew the details that everyone else knew. Coming up on the halfway mark I have completed multiple slides for my Power-point. All of them are on Hitler. I not sure yet, but my project has been leaning to being all about him. It makes sense though considering he was the main reason for the war, and that he was the one man who caused Germany to do such great damage. So really in a way Hitler is WWII and therefore most of my project would be about him.
    Every Friday except for about two or three I have steadily worked on my project, and I am doing a lot better then I did for the last one. Hopefully my focus will continue and I won't stray from my project. I am excited to continue learning about Hitler and the events of WWII.

SPECIAL THANKS TO AARIF THE PRO

        In my Rogate class we have 20% Passion Projects. This is where we take 20% of the week (every Friday) and use that time to work on a project that we are passionate about or interested in. We did this last year and I chose to do my project on squirrels. Squirrels seem like very uninteresting animals, but that is exactly why I researched them. to figure out how interesting they could actually be. This year I did another animal, but this time I chose an animal that was considered extraordinary and very mysterious to most people. My Passion Project this year is on platypi (platypus). Special thanks to my friend Marissa Mojena for helping me choose both of my topics. Also, Aarif Razak for moral support.
        We have had eight class days to work on this project, and sadly I have not been using my time wisely. I am looking up a lot of facts, but I feel that I am unorganized and could get a lot more done if I was more concentrated. We have eight days left to complete the project. In the eight days I will work very hard and organize my information. It is difficult though, to look up information about a platypus, because most of the time when you type in anything with the word platypus it goes to the furniture store or gives you all these facts about the venom glands on the male platypus. Yes, this seems to be the most interesting thing about the platypus. I will not go in to detail about this gland due to the fact I don't want to spoil anything in my project. But I have been able to figure out a lot about a baby and mother platypus. Also, I have found a lot of general facts about the platypus and how the Aborigine people explain the history of this strange animal.
       Obstacles I know I'm going to face is how to find the information. Also, how I'm going to lay out the information. I want to due a PowerPoint, but what category goes on each slide and in what order. The real obstacle I'm facing is staying focus. What I normally due is got caught up in cool facts about other people's project or I stop and tell the people near me what I just figured out. I feel that if I concentrate with what I'm doing I will be able to complete this project with outstanding results.
                                                                                                     

        Grades are a funny thing to me. To society they are basically what predicts are future. If we have bad grades then the term people normally use is "you're going to get no where in life." How is it that a number can run are lives? It's because those numbers are grades. This word can make any kid shiver. Every child has been trained to think that grades are the most important thing in life during the years that you are in school. Honestly some students probably get bad grades because they are worrying about getting good grades. Does that make sense to anyone? Grades are the very thing that make us get bad grades. Teachers, parents, and even friends make grades such a big deal. It's outrageous that simple numbers are controlling the world. Where you go to college, what job your going to have, if your going to be successful in life can all be answered by your grades.
        Now in school, grades are what they use to see how smart a person is. This is crazy because different people work better in different environments. Let's say you take a student who has a lot of siblings and they have learned to deal with noise or any annoying interruptions. And then we take a kid who grew up by themselves and is sensitive. You put them both in a loud room to take a test . Which one do you think would appear to be smarter? But, if you place the quiet and sensitive child in a nice calm room they would most likely do a lot better. These are the situations that the school doesn't consider. On report cards teachers might put easily distracted or can't pay attention. They write these comments and then expect the kid to completely change. I guess one way to put it is some teachers just don't really care how you get the grades, but what your grades are when the task is completed.
       Grades mean a lot to me only because people think good grades equals good life. Honestly I would be completely fine without grades. They only mean so much to me because they mean so much to the world. And I much as I hate to admit it I can't make the world stop using grades. I have to keep worrying about them because the world makes me worry about them.
        I don't agree with the current grading system we use today. The system is based off a hundred point scale. Schools summarize the hundred point scale by giving the numbers a letter. For example the lowest letter grade you can get is a F. This means your score is a sixty or lower. The next letter is a D meaning your score is anywhere from a sixty one to sixty nine. Then there's the letter C, seventy to seventy nine. A B is eighty to eighty nine and lastly the highest letter grade you can get is an A. An A is a ninety to a hundred. Most schools on report cards just show either your grade in letter form or your grade out of a hundred. They don't go into detail. They simply state what your overall grade is and what grade you got on individual papers. The current grading system should be able to state your specifics strengths and weaknesses.
        The current grading system doesn't clearly represent my learning ability or knowledge. I usually get A's or B's. When I get A's it shows me I am doing well in the class and understand the material. When I get a B though I don't know what I need to work on to improve my  grade. One time I had a B in a class because I had gotten a sixty on a five question quiz. On my report card all it stated was quiz 1, sixty. My parents didn't know what the quiz was on and what I had to work on. Therefore they could not help me. All in all the current grading system does not clearly show what I need help in and what I am strongest at.
        Instead of using the current grading system we should switch to Standard-based grading. Traditional grading is based on assessments, one grade is given per an assessment. While with Standard-based grading one grade is given per a learning goal. The Traditional grading system uses an uncertain mix of test, achievement, effort, and behavior to make the final grade. Standard-based grading either measures achievement only or separates it from the behavior and effort. Lastly, every paper goes in the grade book regardless of the purpose for the Traditional system of grading. On the other hand Standard-based grading carefully selects tests, quizzes and projects for specific purposes. In my opinion it would be better to use the Standard-based grading system.

     

        Eighth grade has been okay so far. There were moments when I wished I was in seventh grade again, but there is still so much of the school year to go. Eighth grade is more challenging for me which I like, because I use to get bored in seventh grade. This year I am on two teams. For those of you who don't go to Northern, teams are when you have all your classes in a certain hallway and have classes with everyone else on your team. Plus, everyone has the same teachers on your team. So, like I said before I am on two teams, Achieve and Discover. My locker is in one of  the downstairs hallway and I have one class in that hallway, but all of my other classes are upstairs. Which means a lot of walking up and down. Yep, I'm lazy!
        Not everything about eighth grade is bad. Last year I was on the team Dreamcatchers, which is upstairs so I didn't really get to meet any people except for those who were on my team. Being on two teams allows me to meet more people. Also, being in eighth grade allows me to have more freedom. I already know the school from last year and I know a lot of teachers. There are many teachers that I could just run into their room and ask to print something out or ask them to help me with something. What I'm saying is I have a stronger bond with the teachers. Of course you have to love eighth grade because now it's only one more year until high school. That would be another reason why I would be upset because it is only one more year until high school and sometimes I miss just being a little kid. Haha but you have to love who you are and you can always be that little kid inside!
       To put something positive on the internet (since there's so many negative things) life has been really good this year. I would like to change some stuff about my life, but there will always be situations that somebody will want to change. My grades are good, I love my family, and I'm loving my life. One thing that is the best is my family. My sister just came back from college and now all seven of us are back together. It is fun having her around, especially since she is my only sister and the rest of my siblings are guys and I feel that I'm a closer to her. My family is really supportive in what I do and they help to encourage me to live my life in the best ways possible! I have the best family ever!

The Ending of The Giver      

 Lois Lowry has never revealed to anyone what the ending of The Giver actually is. She herself didn't really think of one. Someone asked her how the ending of the book really happened and all Lois Lowry said was this, "It ends with Jonas and Gabriel going downhill in a sled toward a house with welcoming lights. Ho ho ho. Aren't I a mean author, not to be more specific? I like it when you argue. It makes you think." Some people think Jonas dies and is going to heaven. Some people thinks he made it to an actually house and him and Gabe survived. When another person mentioned the ending she just said that either are correct. Lois Lowry wants people to be able to debate about her book. She has succeeded in doing so.
      I personally think that Jonas and Gabe both slide down to a neighborhood where there are people celebrating Christmas who take them in and save them. So in my opinion Jonas lives. Jonas never received the memory of music, so how did he hear it. He didn't remember it so obviously people must have actually been playing music meaning that was there were people waiting for Jonas and Gabe. Some people think that the "elsewhere" was heaven and Jonas and Gabe died and were on their way to heaven, but I disagree with that theory. I or anyone else will never know if Jonas lives or die because Lois Lowry never really thought of an ending. So I will just have to live without knowing the truth.

http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/article/lois-lowry-interview-transcript
http://www.bookbrowse.com/reading_guides/detail/index.cfm/book_number/1789/the-giver

20% Project

For my 20% project I am going to research squirrels. I would like to research squirrels because it seems like they are just boring animals but I'm sure if I got  to learn more about them there will be very interesting topics that I didn't know about them. I would specifically like to learn how squirrels seem to live forever. There's never a day where I don't see a squirrel except for in the winter when they are habinating.

One person that I will consult is my brother, Kalen. He is an expert on animals and can probably give me very good facts about squirrels
 Some road marks I might reach is finding true information. There is a lot of false information out there. Other than that I think I should have no problems with my 20% project!

So many magazines are advertised towards teens. “According to the Center for a New American Dream, children and teens are exposed to over 25,000 ads in a year, and companies spend over $17 billion a year on marketing toward children and teens,” written by S. Zeige. Thin models mostly have an impact on young girls. Commercials are also jammed packed with models. This causes some teens to feel self- conscious of their appearance. They try to be more appealing. Whether it is from dieting or wearing beauty products most teen girls feel uncomfortable with their body, and try to cover up behind these factors.

In my personal opinion no girl or boy should feel uncomfortable about themselves. I have read or heard about many stories of teens endangering their life. In my opinion I think that there should be magazines that use regular people that could influence teens in a positive way.  

It’s not bad for girls to wear makeup or diet, but sometimes the young teens get carried away. When girls usually wear makeup they feel ugly when they don’t have it on. That’s not so bad, but dieting can lead to starving. Some teens just get too obsessed with being fat. They can weigh as much as an eight year old, but still feel like they’re overweight. This is called being anorexic.

Being self-conscious about what you look like isn’t just affecting girls but boys, too. Some boys think they should have huge bishops or six packs abs. This could cause boys to over exercise. Over exercising could be really deadly. All in all advertising has a big impact on teens and they should be careful who their role models are!

2012 Learning Experiences

      2012 seems to have been a learning year for everyone. Almost everybody had to adapt to a new change in their life. I'm sure everybody learned a lesson this year. One lesson that I learned in the year 2012 was that if you do a job willingly you'll have more fun when you work. It was over the summer and my mom asked me to do the dishwasher..... I hate doing the dishwasher! I did the dishwasher not willingly and it seemed like it took hours just to finish one load of dishes. When I finished my dad came in to ask me if I wanted to cut the lawn. This would require driving the tractor which I love doing. I willingly did the job and in no time it seemed to be over. After, I parked the tractor I realized that if you do a job willingly you will have a lot more fun with the job. The next day my mom asked me to do the dishwasher again. This time I gladly did it and in no time I was done!

The Two Tests

      Yesterday in Rogate I took two test. One called the Anthony Gregorc Learning Styles Test and the other was called the Gardner Multiple Intelligences Test. They sound like they would be a really hard test, but they're not. The tests are all about figuring out your own personailty. At first I thought I already know my personailty and how I act, but once I took the test I realized certain ways that I process information that I didn't know about myself.
      On the Gardner test I realize I am not very musical. In my mind I thought I was a musical person. Mostly because I play the flute and I am pretty good at singing. Also I realized that I am more linguistic in my learning. Linguistic means that I think with words. Supposely this means I love reading, writing, telling stroies, playing word games and so on. I do like all of those things except writing. After though I realized I love writing, but only when I can put my feeling into it. I hate the writings where they tell us what to write about and how to write it, but writing this I can put my feelings into the essay.
      In the Anthony test there was four different subjects you can fall under. There was concrete sequential, abstract sequential, concrete random, and abstract random. I thought I was going to come up under concrete sequential. Meaning I am organized and detailed. Which I am a lot of, Instead though I came up under concrete random. Which means I am independent, creative, a risk-taker, and so on. I am very independent and I am a risk-taker but not as much as I am organized. It seems like I just learn more and more about myself.
      Knowing now that I am better as an independent learner and I learn through reading and writing I find that this could help me in school. For example if we have a project and we have a choice of either working alone or with a partner I feel now I realize I would finish the project early if I worked alone. I am not saying I wouldn't be able to work in a group and get a good grade, I would probably just feel more comfortable working alone. Also with the reading, writing, and being a risk-taker. Now I know that I should take a risk with writing out stories or projects. I am actually glad now that we had to take the tests.
      One person I admire is my sister. She is a role model for me. In my opinion my sister would use the same learning technique as I do. My sister, Emily, would be best for concrete random. She is independent and very creative so she would fall right under that category. Another person that I admire is my dad. I find my dad to be somebody who is better at learning with movement. Lastly, I admire my mom. She seems that she would come up under concrete sequential. My mom is the kind of person that is organized and detailed. That's is probably where I get it from.
       I guess to sum this all up you learn something new about yourself everyday. I find interesting what I came up under. You never truly know who you are I guess. Well I hope you liked my post and learned something from it!

All About Me

      Hi, my name is Amy Joy. I am in seventh grade and this is my first year in a different school. In my school I have a total of nine classes. Some days I only take certain classes. For example, I only have tech connect every other day. Same with chinese. My favorite classes are gym, chinese, and language arts. Gym is fun because we get to run around and play soccer the whole time. I love chinese! It is very interesting to learn a different language. Language atrs isn't very exciting right now, but we are going to start reading a book called Yellow Fever: 1793. It seems like a great book and I can't wait to get reading. Those are my favorite topics to learn in school. Out of school though I am reading a book called Kennedy Women. It tells you all about the ladies in the Kennedy family, when usally you hear about the guys of the family. I can't wait to go home and read more and more of the terrific book.
      In my family there are five kids and two parents. I am the fourth kid in the family. I have an older sister, Emily, and two older brothers, Kalen and Troy. They ae all in highschool. Then, I have a younger brother named Cole. When I am at home what I like to do besides reading is play outside and hang out with my siblings. Also, I play field hockey after school. The postition that I play is goalie and most likely defense. I don't exactly know yet because we just started. I hope to get better and better at field hockey.
      When, I grow up I was thinking I would be a judge. It will be a lot of work to become one, but I am determined. The only thing that would stop me is, to become a judge you have to be a lawyer first. The problem with that is if I was a lawyer and I had a client that I was trying to defend and they told me they were guilty I wouldn't be able to tell anyone. I couldn't defend somebody that I knew was guilty. I also had thoughts of being a teacher when I grow up. I'm not exactly sure what I want to be, but I have plenty of time to think.
      A lot of things make me happy. For instance, I find it funny when little chickens run and I'll laugh. That makes me happy. Plus, getting good grades makes me happy or even just doing something nice for someone else. Also, if I give something of mine to someone else it makes me feel good about myself which causes me to feel happy. Most of you that are reading this are probably thinking that none of these things would make you happy. You're probably saying in your mind what would make me happy is getting an X - box or a phone. Yeah I guess that that can make you happy, but I believe the real joy comes from giving and being happy not getting and being happy. When you give you are most likely making someone else happy. So, wouldn't you rather make someone else happy and yourself by giving then just making yourself happy by getting?
      Well now you know a little bit about myself..... my hobbies, my favorite subject, and what makes me happy. I hoped you enjoyed my small essay about myself. There are more post to come. Until next time!