AS you know, I will not be continuing with my blog after this year.  I am going to high school next year and it will not work for me to continue.  It has been a great ride while it lasted.  You all have been great readers and left some interesting comments.  You showed my that I really can be noticed with this phenomenon that is the modern web.

I have really enjoyed this experience.  I have learned a lot along the way.  My favorite thing to write on here was the Darfur posts.  I learned a lot about the world and as a class we made a difference.

Thanks for sticking with me throughout this year.

GOODBYE

Now that the school year is over, we are deciding what to do with our blogs.  I dont think that I will want to keep mine.  I enjoyed the experience but I wont have enough time to do it any more.  Leave comments to protest.

I read this article about Steven Spielberg and his resignation from the 2008 Olympics. He claims it is because he does not agree with China’s unwillingness to allow aid in Darfur.

China responded defensively saying that they have don’t have and unacceptable human rights record.

Spielbergsaid China “should be doing more to end the continuing human suffering” in Darfur, where fighting between rebellious African tribes and government-backed Arab militias has led to the deaths of as many as 450,000 people and displaced 2.5 million others.

China buys two thirds of Sudan’s oil export so it makes sense that they would not want to upset the current system. They have also blocked most of the UN resolutions to send aid into Sudan. They have been under pressure to allow aid and to stop being so stubborn.

Animal farm has some close connections to the penguin article.  For example, in animal farm a few pigs were capable of creating a society.  In sanfransisco 6 penguins got 46 others to swimm nonstop.

What does it take to get 46 San Fransisco penguins to get up out of their burrows and swim until they drop?  Apparently only 6 penguins shipped in from Ohio.  The San Fransisco sea world received 6 newcomers from the Ohio sea world.  The 3 males and 3 females some how convinced the tough sanfransisco penguins to get in the pool and swim.  And they haven’t stopped!  Jane Tollini, the penguin’s keeper is mistified and confused as to how the small and docile 6 got the other 46 to get up swim.  These burly San Fransiscoians are not what you would describe as active.  At least they weren’t.  They are big and chubby babies, used to beeing hand fed their fish.  They are what you might call a coddled flock, relying on tollini an dthe other keepers to keep the seagulls away from their food.  But a few new comers have figured out a way to change them.  Mimiking the icy arctic migration that peguins naturally face each year in their swimming pool, they drag themselves out of the water at night with no energy left for anything.

My name is boxer.  I like the new animal farm.  We all get along and work together.  But recently the pigs have eaten all the milk and apples.  They explained it because they need extra nourishment.  I believe them but I still am not completely sure.  Oh well.  I am glad that i only stuned the boy and did not kill him.  That would have been terrible.

Animal farm chapters 3-4.

In chapters 3 and 4 the pigs set up their society.  They begin by painting seven commandments on the wall.  They also convince all the other animals that since they are smarter, it is only natural that they rule the farm.

The pigs also eat all the milk and apples because they are “brain workers”.  They need the extra nourishment.  This violates the 7th comandment: all animals are equal.

Animal farm is a book about animals that revolt against their masters.  The pigs take over and start a communist society.

So far we have read chapters 1 and 2.

Imagine this scenario.  Billy goes home after school and plays video games until his parents come home.  Some of his favorite games have advertisements all over them.  In these games, billboards that advertise different brands are always visible.  He is continually getting ads shoved down his throat.  He spends up to four hours a day in front of a screen.  For four hours a day advertisers flood his mind with products.  Advertisers are using a deceptive form of advertising called Immersive Advertising to target young children.  All the immersive ads in games make it hard to distinguish between what is real and what is false. Childhood nowadays is all about the Internet with fun game sites to occupy our time.  Completely innocent, right?  Wrong!  By filling popular sites up with logos and brand names, kids begin to associate the fun of playing the games with the brand or company that sponsors the game.  Neopets.com, a popular gaming site for children between the ages of 8-14, regularly uses immersive advertising.  In many games you see McDonald’s logos everywhere.  Other games blatantly place ads in their titles.  One example is the Fruit-Loops game.  In this game, you must find a treasure map, but there are Fruit Loops and Kellogg’s logos everywhere.  The kids that play this game begin to recognize the Kellogg’s logo and want to buy Fruit Loops every time they go shopping with their parents. Advertisers are using psychology to promote products to children.  By branding logos and company slogans into the brain of a young child, advertisers can get a customer for life.  Sometimes they begin as early as six months of age.  Even babies can remember and recognize logos.  So if a baby remembers the Nike logo, then when he is old enough to buy clothes, he will buy Nike over another company.  Advertisers argue that they are only investing in future customers.  But young children do not have the ability to pick out what is real and what is false.  They will believe anything you tell them.  It is not fair to bombard young children and babies with ads.  Advertisers are using the naive minds of young children to their advantage.  This is quite simply unethical.

Childhood now a days is all about the Internet.  Fun game sites to occupy our time.  Completely innocent, right?  WRONG!  advertisers are using a deceptive form of advertising called Immersive advertising to target young children.  By filling popular sites up with logos and brand names, kids begin to associate the fun of playing the games with the brand or company that sponsors the game.  All the immersive ads in games make it hard to distinguish between what is real and what is false.