Wednesday, February 28, 2007

Persuasive Essay

Here is a persuasive essay I wrote for my English class. I don't have much to say right now, maybe I'll add on later... :P
Comments appreciated!

Persuasive Essay

An extra “Study Hall” period should be added to every school day, increasing the average day by 45 minutes. Some people agree with this statement and others hate the idea. It has both good and bad but in general I agree with this statement for a few reasons. These reasons include the facts that the kids would get better grades, they would get help where they needed it, and they would get a great opportunity to make study groups, and new friends.

If mandatory study hall period was added to Jr. High’s, the grades would increase. The kids would have a bigger opportunity to do homework, study, and even long-term assignments. It needs to be a mandatory period, otherwise instead of people studying for their tests and doing their homework, kids would rather go outside and play football, or watch T.V. The quality of the work would also go up, which would help them get the grade they want in that class, which would increase their overall G.P.A. With more study time, and more homework completed, this would be a good idea.

Kids would get extra help in subjects they were struggling in. If a mandatory study hall period was added, the kids would be more likely to seek help for topics or ideas they do not understand. The teachers or volunteers could also take this time to find out what subjects they need help in, and would have more time to help the student, compared to a class setting. If they find out other people are struggling in the same areas as they are, they may not feel so left out and stupid, but rather able to find more help. Over all, with this extra period, kids would get the help they need.

After adding a mandatory study hall period, kids could make new friends and meet new people in the process of learning. It would be a great change to arrange study groups, and meet people struggling in their same areas. After study groups are made, the kids can study for tests; do homework, and anything else they never got a chance to finish in Study hall. This would help the student body itself develop study skills, people skills, responsibility, and a number of other useful traits in their lives.

With all that said, one extra period is worth all the hassle, money, and extra time that would be required. It would do more than add 45 minutes to every school day. It would increase the student’s grades, let the student get help where they need it, form study groups, and even help develop skills they will use for the rest of their lives. Adding on the Study Hall would be a great idea, and I would vote for it if the issue came up at my school.

Tuesday, February 27, 2007

BOMBARD! HOMEWORK A FOOT!

Friday.
Do you ever wonder WHAT exactly the teachers do on that day? With their little "staff development meeting," as they call it? Well I figure that they all get together and set a few certain dates for things. What certain dates? You might ask.
Let me ask you THIS!
Have you ever noticed how you can have an entire week with out homework, but then comes a Tuesday for example, and then KABLAM! Homework in every subject! Then you end up having every test around the same week, give or take a few days, in EVERY PERIOD! This forces you to study for everything all at once, and have all your homework due all at once, Rather than spreading it all out.
Maybe it's just a coincidence for me and Lis at least, but it sure as heck seems like it.

Wow, I'm such a dork.

Monday, February 26, 2007

FINALLY! It's been done!


As you may, or may not have noticed, I now have my own URL!
Now you can simply type in LifesRiver.net in your address bar, and it will forward you to journal.lifesriver.net. The reason I had it go to this sub-domain, is because I plan on making a site on LifesRiver.net in the future.
Also, if you follow any links or whatever to my old URL (LRJohnson.blogspot.com) It takes you to a page saying we have moved, along with a pretty picture, the hit counter, and now it will re-direct you automatically to this new site. You may continue to go to my old URL if you like, but you may want to update your links and bookmarks to LifesRiver.net.
Those are the most recent updates! So stay tuned!

Saturday, February 24, 2007

Video of the Month


Via: VideoSift
This is February's winner! Just to make it clear (no offense to the person I had to explain this too) It is not one guy telling another guy what to type... It is one guy talking to his computer, which is supposed to type what he says.
Enjoy!

Thursday, February 22, 2007

Video of the Month

I'm going to add a video of the month, and at least try to add it every month. Which shouldn't be a problem. As I go through the month, I'll make a list of my nominees, and pick one. This month it's down to two of them. Whichever one does not win it this month will probably win it next month. Unless of course I find another amusing or pretty cool video...
Anyways, in few months, I will post the winner!

Thursday, February 15, 2007

Online Translators


Have you ever used one of those free online translators, whether it's for a Spanish report, or whatever reason? I'm putting this together for two main reasons. First, it's too funny NOT to leave off, and secondly, I want to show you how far off they can be.

Now here's the setting/story.
It was just a typical average day, and I got on MSN and saw that my good friend Rutger was online. Rutger is just your average Dutch 16 year old, and he lives a normal life over in Holland. He has good friends, a great life, and he couldn't be happier.
Forget that. I'll get to the point.
We were bored, and he said something in Dutch, and I decided to google an online Dutch to English translator. He said "Jij bent amerikaan Dus", and what came out was "I am Yo Oh wait you am American therefore" When I asked him what the heck he meant by that, he just burst out laughing. Then he told me what he really said was "I'm back Yo Oh wait You're an American So..." (Yo is another word for Hi in dutch.)
I thought this was funny, so I got back into the translator and gave him this, "U bent zo bizar. Hoe over u en uh… ga U kunt met die koeien over hun bovengenoemd de oceaan vliegen. Dat kijkt als pret." Once again, he was laughing. He translated it to, "You are so bizar How over u and uh... go you can with those cows over their see above the ocean fly. that sees like fun." That was pretty close, I said something along these lines, "You are so crazy. How about you uh... go over with those cows flying above the ocean. That looks fun."
I gave him yet another random phrase, but (unfortunately) I never wrote down the original sentence, so I'll just leave it out.
What we were doing that made it so funny, was I would say something in the translator, then he would translate what the translator said back into English, then I would take what Rutger said and put it back through the translator, and so on and so fourth.
After we got bored of what ended up being "Hllo Rutger! How am today you? I has honuostly no idea what on the bringing. It probably goes about stabbed down onderneath under alligators in a park or bizar is something that everybode well speaks. I think we shall see shall" we gave up and decided to start with a new phrase.
This time, the phrase ended up being "OK. Now what am I going to say. We can do something like this chicken over here picking on my hamster marshmallow. Did you know that donkeys kill more people in a year than airplanes do? I want to know if that includes September 11th. If not, then that is really fishy like that bread on my mom's couch. OK. I have no idea how to make this any more normal like random fry sauce. Wow, this is going to make all this seem crazy and funky like this noodle."
I could go through all the stages of how it went, but that would take too long. Besides, regardless of how funny me and Rutger found it, it would probably just become really boring for you to read. The final message ended up being, "O.K now whar I that went says. We could something for until now that the region of chicken about here picking on my hamstermuel doing. Did you know that is killing a donkey more people in a year than the planes? Ik want to know if catch 11 saptember. If not, then that is really FISH as if bread on the layer of my mother. O.K i don't have a clue how to because more if random standard baked dinnersa uce am to be making. wow, this is going to very strange and funky if be this noodel it shining."
Could someone please translate that? (Rhetorical Question)
This states one of two things:
1. Either Rutger can't translate anything worth crap,
2. Or all these free online translators aren't worth your time.

After having talked to Rutger, I'll go with Theory number 2 myself.
All translations from Dutch to English made by Rutger Semp.
All translations from English to Dutch made by
http://www.worldlingo.com/

Wednesday, February 14, 2007

MSN Messenger Post....


I've gotten rid of the Hacking MSN and Windows Live for two reasons...
1. The first thing all my friends are doing with it is using them on me.
2. I'm selfish and I'll do what I want to.

Thursday, February 8, 2007

Personal Qualities Essay

As a school English assignment, we (the class) had to think of 3 words that best described us, after I wrote the essay, I kinda liked it, so I decided to post it up here for you guys. Well, here it goes!

Personal Qualities Essay
For an English assignment, I was forced to deliberately think up three different and somewhat unique words to describe myself. After very little thought, the first few words I thought up were exuberant, overenthusiastic, and confused. Some of these describe me better than others, but to fully understand, you will just have to read on. However, I’ve saved the best for last. For the remainder of this essay, I will try and come up with something to describe how these simple words describe me, and possibly how I thought them up.
The word exuberant first came into my mind, mainly because me and a classmate were assigned that word as part of the Giver vocabulary assignment, and partly because it sounds so weird and describes me well. Exuberant means ‘lively or excited’ and if you talk to anyone who knows me, I’m very rarely depressed or in a bad mood. I usually have a generally positive outlook on life. As far as specific examples, I am usually very happy and have a smile on my face. When I’m sad, lonely, mad, I can usually bounce-back pretty quickly, and turn the emotions toward energy. Describing all this and how ‘lively or excited’ I usually am is quite hard to do in an essay. A visual tour of my daily life would be a better explanation, but I’d prefer that people didn’t follow me around.
One of the next words that I thought of was overenthusiastic. This greatly ties into exuberant, but is a little different. I have a tendency to overreact to happiness. A few examples I could give would be a little personal, and one involves somebody in my English class. Since I haven’t asked for their permission, I won’t use it. Another example is when I got the courage to ask somebody to dance with me, at the first dance of 9th grade. When it was over I said Thank-You, and then tried to walk away casually. As soon as she was out of eyesight, I jumped for joy over and over again. I put the biggest grin on my face, not only at the fact she said yes, but because I was so proud of myself for finally asking her after all those passed up opportunities since 7th grade. I had the biggest rush of joy and happiness I’ve ever felt.
This last word was the only one that I had put some thought and effort into it. Confused describes me better than any other word I know of, including the exuberant and overenthusiastic. I am often very confused at the meaning of life, love, and happiness. Often I am confused about the things and people around me, but the main confusion of my life is my emotions and feelings. I often tend to mix them up, and I don’t quite understand them at times. One specific (yet vague) example is love. It’s such a strong feeling, and tends to be confused with other things. Confusion about love tends to be mixed with rushed decisions, false hope, and desperation.
The three words that best describe me would have to be exuberant, overenthusiastic, and confused. I am exuberant because of how full of energy I am and my outlook on life. I tend to be overenthusiastic when I accomplish new things and am overly excited about it. I am usually confused because I tend to think about things either too much or not enough, and have very deep thoughts about life itself. I’ve learned about myself, and hopefully you have too.

Well, there you have it! Please feel free to leave comments about it, and especially any spelling/grammar mistakes. This was only a rough draft, so I'm sure I have room for improvement!

Updates: Going good.


Well, I FINALLY got my internet working on my computer, now all that's left is to get my sound working, my virus program, and the werid issue of why the heck it wont' install hardly anything correctly.
Otherthan that, I'm SO HAPPY! I'll have more entries comming up soon, and a little surprise for everybody! $817,000,000!!!! Ok, not really. I know it's soon, but my site will be undergoing a new change! For a hint of what it will look like, go to www.lessthandan.com. Dan is the one who will be helping me get everything set up, and all that stuff. It won't look excatly like that, It'll be a little different, and I hope I won't bee too annoying asking all these questions and other kind of stuff. It will most likely have a section with links to previous/other sites, like my piczo site, and some of the other ones I've had. I just want to take this moment to thank Dan again, and I'm looking forward too it.
Now, to get on those other entries....