NIU DEATH THREATS

How do you feel about this last week and weekend death threat actions? Personally I don't think that that was a good way to end our first semester. Now many people and the school thinks that the threat wasn't real, that it was a plot or plan in order to get out of taking finals. Well, i say it wasn't. Why would people go through all of that trouble just not to take finals. Finals have been being taken since the word school was even invented. So why should people think that that prank would make them go away? Honestly!!! Things like threats against the school should be taken serious, not looked at as a joke or bargain to get them out of serious test taking.

Won't forget this class!!!

Well the time is now!! It's so sad, but it must happen. Our class is over for the semester. I have met so many people from this class and I have learned so much. I hope everything goes well for everybody. I will never forget my first semester here, taking this English class. As we get older, we all forget lots of things, but this is one memory I will alwasy cherish. Oh yea that's right Memory!! Lol. Oh well. I didn't know any good visuals to post with this so I decided to post this little clip from Finding Nemo. I love this movie so much, especially this part, and I thought it might go well with memory and forgetfullness. Hope you enjoy. Have a happy holidays everybody. Hope to see you all next year.

Young chimp beats college students?!

It's rather interesting to see that chimps have an advantage in memory over us. There's been a memory test performed with young chimps (age 5) and a dozen human volunteers. Most of us believe that we, as humans, have a more complex brain, therefore that allows us to have a greater advantage over mental activities over our cousins the chimpanzees. Yeah we do have an advantage with long term memory, however, with this test it's been proven that "...when the numbers were displayed for just four-tenths or two-tenths of a second, the chimp was the champ. The briefer of those times is too short to allow a look around the screen, and in those tests Ayumu (monkey) still scored about 80 percent, while humans plunged to 40 percent." -(Ritter, AP Science Writer)

So the Chimps have an advantage with short term memory.

Here's the article: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071203/ap_on_fe_st/chimp_memory;_ylt=AqVUxxW6zhin2LBd1LnVK4jtiBIF

Here's a video of a if not the project:

http://www.pri.kyoto-u.ac.jp/ai/video/video_library/project/project.html

Devendra Banhart

Devendra Banhart has been one of my favorite artists for a while now. I think that he has done an amazing job at not giving into what labels are looking for. He was born in 1981 and grew up in Venezuela. The genres that his music falls into is Indie Folk, Nu-Folk, and Psych Folk. His songs are not overly produced and seem to always include very natural lyrics. He puts on an amazing show live and has an amazing vocal range. I highly suggest to anyone who enjoys this type of music to see Devendra Banhart whenever they get a chance.

Soulja Boy dancers!!

When I first saw this video I was blown away. I was flustered with many different thoughts and emotions. At first I was like amazed at how those little kids can dance to that song better than I can. Then I couldn't believe that they even knew how to dance to a song like that. They are to young to even have the consent to listen to a song like that. This is a ballet class full of eight year olds. They are not even old enough to know about the birds and the bees. I wonder if the parents even what is going on in this ballet class. If I had kids, I know that I most certainly wouldn't want to them to be dancing to that song nor would I want them to hear it. Growing up as a child my mother wouldn't let my sisters and me listen to anything other than the oldies. Britney Spears was such a big deal back, then. I think that kids these days are exposed to many things to early in their lives and it's not healthy.