Thank You, Ma'm

I think it was nice that Mrs. Jones helped Roger to stop being a criminal because when he tried to steal her purse she caught him and took him to her house and cleaned him up and feeds him, she then tells him why it is very bad to be a criminal and he should stop being one. She then let him go and Roger felt like a new person and promised not to steal again.

An Indispensable Friendship

1.Selfish can't be good friends because they can take advantage of you.
2. The author kept his friendship with his junior high school friends because he liked to talk to them about issues that he/she had.
3. a "real friendship" is different from other friendship because you are very close friends with this person, and you enjoy being around them.
4. The author means that the phrase "to give the best of ourselves" which means to give all your energy to your friends and help them out in difficult situations.
5. The title refers to one that can't be broken and will not change.

I found this essay to be very interesting about friendship. I think its interesting how it talks about different types of friendships and tells about the authors own experiance with friends.

Compare & Contrast

New York and Los Angeles have many similar things about them but they also have alot of different things too. Firstly and obviously New York and Los Angeles are cities. One thing different about the two is that New York is on the east coast and in the state of New York, while Los Angeles is on the west coast and in the state of California.

Both New York and Los Angeles have pollution with New York cleaning most of its pollution in the 80's and 90's but Los Angeles still has polluted fog and smog in its skies. One last thing about the two cities is that New York is now the safest city in the United States while Los Angeles still has some parts that are crime ridden.

Although New York and Los Angeles are different I still think that both are very interesting cities and are good to go and visit.

My Story

About two years ago in 2007, I went back to New Zealand for a visit in July, and visited my ancestoral home in the southwest of the North Island of New Zealand. It took about three hours to drive from the capital, Wellington, to my ancestoral village of Koroniti. It sits on the bend of the Whanganui River. It is almost always misty around the village and the road to the village is very narrow and right next to the river, so if you swerve in a vehicle you can easily fall into the river. It was a rainy day and my brother, dad and I was in a car driving up to the village, it was a very misty day so you could not see well out of the window. I was every excited to be going to the village because I always enjoy my time there. We turned off the paved road and onto a muddy road, we could see the farm house where our grandmother lives and the sheep in the paddock. we slowed down and turned into the driveway and stopped and turned the car off. We got out and got our bags and went inside to greet our grandmother. We stayed there for about a week until leaving to go back to Wellington. I very much enjoyed my time there.

The Best Part

1. Eating breakfast with the family and opening gifts.
2. "On Christmas morning, my parents and sisters and brothers and I have a light breakfast and open the gifts for each other."
3. The details are both specific and convincing.
4. It does have a topic sentence it is the very first sentence, the controlling idea is "in my family, we eat Christmas dinner about four o'clock.
5. I have always enjoyed Christmas, I like to open my presents.

My American Journey

1. General Powell and his wife visited Top Hill, Jamaica, because it is the birthplace of his father.
2. When they arrived at Top Hill with their escorts, it was extremely quite, but in one second the entire village came out to greet them.
3. Top Hill might be in central Jamaica, since he had to travel from gravel roads to muddy hilly roads to get to Top Hill
4. A huge bunch of groups met General Powell, the General was very amazed about how many groups came out to meet him.
5. General Powell knows the last group is his family because they look somewhat like him.
6. I think he reacted this way because he has met family he has never seen before.
7. I have not had the simaler story has General Powell's.
8. About six months ago, I met both the former New Zealand Prime Minister and the Maori King, I was very nervous, because these two people are well known to New Zealanders and the Maori King is the traditional head of my ethnicity
9. "We piled into jeeps provided by the Jamaican government and headed north into the interior", "We had arrived at Top Hill, land of my father's birth.", I think that both of the paragraphs have stated topic sentences.

The Beautiful Laughing Sisters

Before I read this story, the title was very interesting and I thought it will be about sisters that get well known for making fashion. Once I read the article I was suprise that it was not about fashion but about these two sisters and their family escaping war ravage Pakistan and going to the United States. I was pretty amazed by the story about how they survived a refugee camp and other horrbile things. I think that the story was very interesting.

Senate Majority Leader Backs Health Care Plan

Before I read this article I was interested about the title about the Senate Majority Leader, Harry Reid backing President Barack Obama's health care plan. After I read it I thought it was a big step for Obama's health care plan because Senator Reid is a powerful person with alot of influence in Congress due to his title of Senate Majority Leader.

Don't Ask

Who: Women and Men
What: Asking directions
Where: Streets
When: Anytime
Why: Lost
How: Trying to find directions from strangers

Before I read this article, I was pretty interested in the title "Don't Ask", I originally thought it mean to not talk to strangers but as I studied the picture with the article is showed a lady talking to a lady on the road. After I read it I was really interested how Men and Women are both very different when asking for directions, it said that Women are less embarresd to ask for directions then Men, who can get embarresd when asking for them. Overall it was a very interesting article to read.

Earthquakes Rock South Pacific

WHO: South Pacific
WHAT: Earthquakes
WHEN: Yesterday around 6:00PM
WHERE: South Pacific, northwest of Vanuatu
WHY: Earthquakes
HOW: Earth plates smashing into each other

Before I read this article I was interested in how many earthquakes have hit around the Pacific Ocean and Asia. I already know that earthquakes are deadly and can be deadly, it can be even more deadly if it happens under the ocean because it can create a tsunami, just like a few weeks ago around Samoa and American Samoa, where a tsunami killed around 100 people. After I read the article I was pretty amazed at how strong the earthquakes were, they measured around 7.1. I learnt that peoples lives were saved because there was a tsunami warning system nearby that warned them of a small tsunami.

California Wildfire Forces Evacuations

WHO: California
WHERE: south California
WHEN: today
WHAT: wildfire
WHY: unknown reasons just yet
HOW: wildfire


When I saw this article I was very interested in it due to California having been known for having wildfires mainly in the summer. I wanted to learn how it started and how are the authorities are trying there best to try to stop it. After I read this article I read that the wildfire that the firemen are fighting is in southern California and is getting pretty close to Los Angeles. The authorities are evacuating residents that are dangerously close to the fire. The article said that 4,000 people live near the fire, with 1,000 people trying to evacuate. The authorities have opened evacuation centers for the people that will not have a house. The authorities are investigating how the fire started and have not announced yet when the evacuees can go back home.

article link:
http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/10/04/california.sheep.fire/index.html

The Real World: Billingual Children and Indoor Air Pollution

Before I read the article on bilingual children, I wanted to know when was the easiest age to learn a second language, and how many children speak English as their second language. I think if the parent speaks two languages their child should too. I already know that being bilingual makes it easier for the child because if they go back to a country that speaks their second or first language then it is easy for them to communicate. After I read the article I was pretty amazed how many people want to be bilingual and also how many people are already bilingual. It was pretty interesting how many countries that don't have English as their first language encourage them to learn English.

Before I read the article on indoor air pollution, I wanted to know what makes the indoor pollution and how. I already know that asbestos are one way that makes indoor air pollution and smoke from stoves and other places also sometimes make indoor air pollution. After I read the article I was amazed that asbestos is one of the most deadliest of the items that can make indoor air pollution, and was pretty frighten that if you breath in enough asbestos, that you can suffer brain damage or even death. I was also amazed that there were up to six items that can make indoor air pollution.

Flooding Horror in Georgia

At least five people are reported dead and with roads and towns underwater, Sonny Perdue, the governor of Georgia has announced a state of emergency in 17 counties that have been worst hit by the flooding. The 17 counties are very near the Georgian capital of Atlanta, which is currently under flood watch. Today one person was reported dead in Tennessee, the first death outside of Georgia so far. Amazingly just a few months ago, Georgia was in the midst of a drought. The only way civilians can find their way out is by boat or by swimming; Atlanta’s Hartsfield airport has been closed due to the flooding. The weather authorities have said more rain is expected to fall in Georgia.

link to article:
http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/09/21/southeast.floods/index.html

President Obama reverses European missle plans

President Barack Obama, today, announced that a idea by former President George W. Bush to put missles in the eastern European nations of Poland and Czech Republic, to end today. After the news conference Defense Secretary Robert Gates announced that the idea of a missle shield in Europe has not ended, but that the United States government has got new info on the Iranian nuclear program. Russian President Dimitry Medvedev announced on Russian state TV that he welcomed the new move by the American government. The original idea by the Bush administration was to have a radar system in the Czech Republic and ten missile intercepters in Poland.

Texting

In the modern age, texting is now one of the leading ways of communicating. Almost every person texts each day around the world, leading to many accidents. Most of the accidents come because of people texting while walking, running or even driving. Last year many states have now banned the use of a mobile during driving and anyone caught texting while driving is given a heavy fine. I do think that texting is a hazard, but it is also very addictive, so it is always hard to stop texting.

College Success

My advices to become a success in college are that you should never be stressed over homework or an upcoming exam because it will make it harder for you to concentrate. Another one is that you should always have a good nights rest before an exam so you can be ready and alert when the exam day comes. Always study for an exam with a friend or family member, it is known to always help. If you don't understand what the professor is saying always put your hand up and ask. Always be ready and organized when the professor enters the classroom. Always be polite to the professor and the professor will be polite back. One last advice is to always be on time for your classes.

Introduction

Hi i'm Ben, I am a freshman at NYIT, my hobbies are playing video games, reading, watching sports and listning to music. I like to read novels or short stories on history, sports or government. I am from New Zealand, and hold dual New Zealand and British citizenship.