The first possible choice for my final paper is about drug legalization. I don't mean the usual legalizing weed, but the legalization of hard drugs. For example, there are countries in which heroine is legal. These countries have clinics where they provide clean needles and a safe environment, and even medical attention if something bad happens... The two stances are if they should be totally illegal or if there is a point at which we should stop punishing addicts and help them get their fix safely.

http://www.erowid.org/chemicals/heroin/heroin_law.shtml

The other idea are the different treatments for mental disorders for OCD in particular. There are different methods such as cognitive behavioral therapy, behavioral therapy, and medications. I would go into detail about all of these options and tell which one is the best, although it seems that a mix of 2 or all 3 of these options may be best there is a lot of research to be made.

http://www.medicinenet.com/obsessive_compulsive_disorder_ocd/page2.htm

Journal 11 Revision

Aside from killing good bacteria on our skin, using hand sanitizer promotes antibiotic resistance among bacteria. This works by killing only the 99.99% of bacteria that can be killed by ethyl alcohol. The other .01% can reproduce. This percentage is the strongest portion of bacteria. The alcohol increases the rate of natural selection on the hands. Frequent use will only allow these bacteria to exist killing everything else multiple times a day, leaving behind a good environment for the strong pathogens to replicate. There have been other studies with medicines such as penicillin that show reduced effectiveness of use after too much use. This has global effects. It increases the demand for new antibiotics if we can only use them until the bacteria are immune.

Naturally the benign bacteria tend to be much weaker than pathogenic bacteria. This said, the .01 to .1% of bacteria left on the hands after hand sanitizer use are the strongest and most aggressive. At any one time there are billions of bacteria inhabiting the human hands, leaving hundreds of thousands of the strongest bacteria to reproduce in a highly nutritious environment. Bacteria can reproduce through 100,000 generations in the same amount of time as one human generation (Bettelheim). Any gene that benefits bacteria will be naturally selected much quicker than the evolution of humans. The frequent use of alcohol based hand sanitizers in reality speeds up the evolution of pathogens because their new environment is extremely advantageous. Relating to the big picture, staphylococcus, you may have heard of staph infection, and streptococcus, respiratory infection, are just two of the many strains of bacteria resistant to most antibiotics given to treat them (Bettelheim). We shouldn't be concerned with being bacteria free because the more we use hand sanitizer throughout the day the more we develop pools of resistant bacteria on our hands.

Argument

http://www.NaturalNews.com/030091_Joycelyn_Elders_marijuana.html

This article is about marijuana and how it is less harmful than we think. The surgeon general has many points to make. We are wasting useful resources to incriminate young people. I believe in the same view as the author of this article. Marijuana is harmless.

http://www.drinkingbeer.net/BeerArticles/Liquor_Before_Beer_Never_Fear.php5

This article is about how to properly drink. It states that if you drink beer before liquor your chances to throw up are much more. I think this is absolutely true. Always drink liquor before beer.

http://www.salon.com/life/food/eat_drink/2007/12/21/absinthe

This article is about absinthe. Many people believe this drink makes you hallucinate. This article states that all of these myths are false. Absinthe is a different type of drink than average alcohol we drink in the US. This article has a lot of useful information including the legal status of absinthe. I have never tried but I agree with the article

The brand new 2011 Technine Team Bradshaw is one of the types of new age snowboards that recently have come out. These boards are the flashy type. This deck focuses less on specifications and more on graphics. The graphics on this board of a beer bottle, lighter, cigarette, pizza, and money show a lifestyle that a lot of snowboarders lead. A person might buy this board if they want others to know who they really are. Being seen with this Technine I promise you'll get attention. Notice how smooth the edges are on a radial cut. You can easily tell that the money you put into this board is more for looking cool than having the top of the line gear. One might buy this board if they feel they don't need the best new shit to do ill tricks.

The 2011 Lib Tech Skate Banana is one of the most popular snowboards out this year. With new groms (young snowboarders) wanting the best new gear it's no surprise this board gets all the hype. This board looks plain black on the bottom with some vibrant color on the brand name across the center. The graphics of this deck focus less on complicated artwork and more on simply stating the model and brand of the board. If you look closely you can see that the cuts in the side are not smooth as other boards. This serves to have more contact points with the snow. Even by just looking at this board you can tell it is top of the line.

Evaluation of The Dark Knight

The Dark Knight is one of the greatest movies of our time. Laremy Legel called Christopher Nolan’s, The Dark Knight, a masterwork. Most people would say this was a phenomenal film. This revolutionary film starred one of the best actors of all time, Heath Ledger. Christopher Nolan blew away most critics with his job directing. The Dark Knight is a film that was so popular and all around loved that it merits evaluation

I will be evaluating the Dark Knight on the directing, the characters, story line, actors, and theme.

Most aspects of this movie were great. Christopher Nolan did the directing in this film, and very well might I add. Nolan is said to be on a higher level than other filmmakers. Some critics say comparing this movie to other movies is like comparing, let’s say, The Tavern to McDonald’s. The overall quality of filmmaking in this movie is much better than other movies of our time such as Casino Royale, Transformers, and Spiderman. Nolan finds a way to show us what these people are thinking. This movie is less about the superhero versus super villain and more about the internal conflict and the choices we make.

The characters in this movie were flawless. The batman and joker obviously were great and an essential part but Harvey Dent, Alfred, Rachel, Gordon, Lucious, the detectives, and minor villains along the way were depicted beautifully.

The story line of The Dark Knight was perfect timing. Everything that happened in this movie happened at the perfect time. Being two and a half hours long some might say it would be nearly impossible to keep the watcher’s attention for that long. Comparing this movie to the Titanic, I’d say very similarly the amount of time was perfect and absolutely necessary. Every part of this movie kept me watching and wanting more without confusing me at any point like Nolan’s Inception did.

The Dark Knight starred some of the best actors of different generations. Christian Bale and Heath Ledger played the main characters the Batman and the joker. Christian Bale, the perfect actor for this part, has a lot of conflict within himself and he illustrates this quality well. This is shown by the part in the film when he must choose to save Rachel or the lives of a many families. Heath Ledger… what can be said about his role as the joker. He plays this role immaculately. He is a twisted genius in this film. The part couldn’t have been played any better.

The themes and motifs in this movie made those watching question if they, themselves, were good people. Some of the decisions Bale faces make one curious what they would do in a similar situation. The Dark Knight tells us how humans and society work. It shows us how close we are to chaos in our daily lives and asks if you need to become a monster to kill a monster (Legel).

Outine

1) My opening scene will be of a student who failed classes and eventually failed out of school. He didn't go to class about 80 percent of the time. I realize this is an extreme case but it is a good example of what could happen. His parents scream and yell at him for the money they have wasted, the time and effort they put in, and most of all are hurt over his decision. This scene includes dialogue from parents to son. It also includes a few of the questions I asked this person about why they did what they did.

2) "It just seemed easier not to care. I just did me"

3) I am writing about the problem of students skipping class here at Penn State. It is relevant and important because almost everyone I've talked to has skipped at least one class. It is a widespread problem that is a factor at just about every school in America. What I want to find out is really how many students skip. I want to know the major reasons why they do it, the excuses they may give to a professor, if one is needed, when classes are skipped, and what the most frequently skipped classes are here at Penn State.

4) Freshman skip classes everyday at every college for as far back as college goes. It has caused mass amounts of people getting kicked out of school and millions of dollars to wasted education funds. There are many reasons like partying, doing homework, and simply having an easy class that you can do well in even without attending.

5) "I skip econ everyday and got an A on the exam. If I just find 30 minutes on my own time to teach myself everything, I'm good on test day," said Jeff Stern, an 18 year old SRA major at Penn State. This is proof that skipping class is prevalent.

6) I have an interview planned with Dr. Albena Z. a calculus teacher who takes the stance of no attendance. She has said, "If you don't want to come to class then don't come to class. It's about you wanting to do well. If you don't want to do well then I don't care." This is the point of view of many teachers at Penn State saying that at this point if a student doesn't care it is not the professors problem. They get paid to be a professor not a babysitter.

7) "Sometimes it's just too much for me man. I can wake up at 8 to shower and get to class every monday wednesday and friday if I'm gonna be up til 3 in the morning doing work." This was said by freshman Shawn Warrender 18 year old DUS major. He is a person that tries extremely hard to get all his work done but when it comes to college sometimes the work load can be a little much.

8) Skipping is going to be a problem everywhere for a long time. It's just too hard to control this problem. It's truly up to the student how much time and effort they put in to their school work and class. In general, even the smartest and hardest working students won't be able to make class every once in a while. Once we understand the major causes of these problem we can begin to fix the problems at the roots. I will talk about all of my research once more including the major quotes from specific people. Why do students skip? When do they skip? How often do they skip? What are the professors opinions on students that do this? What are the main excuses used? Hopefully people realize how important classes are and take it more seriously.

Penn Staters Skipping Class Journal

My biology room is an enormous lecture hall. It seats over 750 people comfortably. I know this because my class alone has 741 people in it. There are two entrances for massive amount of people to file in at one time and two rows or stairs in between the sections of hundreds of red cushioned chairs. Usually to my left I have Mike Caplan. On my right is Danielle Falco. In the front of the room there is a podium where my professor stands with an attached microphone on her shirt so she can speak and everyone will hear. Above her lies a 30 foot by 15 foot projector with the computer screen on one side and the normal projector on the other side. My professor speaks with a loud voice that can be heard from 360 degrees around the room, and paces back and forth to try and make eye contact with all 741 people. Mike, on my left, has his clicker out to answer the various questions that give us participation points for each day. It is the only way to tell who is attending class and who isn't. New people around me everyday because there are so many people and so many possible choices of seats. The room is almost a theater.

"I haven't gone to biology this entire year so far except for the first day. It's just too hard to pay attention with that many people," says Will. He is one of my friends that I met in biology the first day we had class. He is a student here at Penn State and 18 years old.

"Dude clicker question are worth like no points, it doesn't even matter if I go or not." This again was Will who seems to have a bad attitude about going to class. He is saying that his grade may be negligibly affected by not answering the daily clicker questions.

"Honestly with 740 people even if I get up and leave everyday she won't know who I am, my name, or even remember what I look like," says Mike Caplan who actually does not skip class. He is 18 and went to my high school, Methacton, where we were in multiple of the same classes. I guess he has morals. Dr. Carla Hass is the she in this situation. She's the professor of biology 110. She can't keep track of this many people. It's just not possible.

Online I found that the most common excuse for students skipping class is that they are sick. This was a simple google search that lead me to a yahoo blog questionnaire. Teachers rarely believe this depending on your personality in class. This made me think that even if I actually am sick what are the chances that my professor will believe what I'm saying? Another thing I found really interesting was that at Penn State the most common actual reason for skipping class is being hungover from a night of being out late and drinking. This I heard from a Junior at Penn State who is seemingly popular and parties a lot. He wished to be remain anonymous. This person is also an older brother of a close friend I have here at State.

I would like to look at how many times a teacher actually believes their students excuses about missing class. I will look at the amount of teachers here that do not take attendance and how their grades compare to those classes that do take attendance. I have realized that some teachers here take a stance of letting their students decide how much effort they will put in. In other words if a kid doesn't want to go to class the professor doesn't care. Another thing I want to research that I found interesting is the amount of times students miss an early class because they were sleeping with a girl or vice versa.