Check out ePals at http://www.epals.com/

The International Baccalaureate® (IB) has selected ePals, Inc., to implement and manage an online learning community for IB students, educators, alumni, and other stakeholders.

The innovative website will provide safe and collaborative communication tools to facilitate authentic learning experiences and interactions on a global scale.

The rollout will be multi-phased, ultimately enabling members of the worldwide IB community in over 2,600 schools and more than 130 countries to connect, share and collaborate.

Jeffrey Beard, Director General of the IB said,

“At the core of our mission, we aim to promote intercultural understanding and respect as an essential part of life in the 21st century. We feel that ePals can create the ideal community and technology platform for ensuring that students and educators at IB World Schools can safely communicate, collaborate and learn with their peers regardless of geographic, cultural or language differences.

Following pilot trials and beta deployments throughout the 2009 academic year, the co-branded ePals IB hosted learning community is expected to be available to all IB members by July 2010. ePals also is working with the IB to provide professional development opportunities for IB educators, administrators and staff focused on creating 21st century learning environments.

When my brother needs math help, my mother turns to me.  Unfortunately for her, I will be away at college in a year and a half.  The good news is that Tutorvista.com offers online math tutoring.

They have a package with unlimited monthly tutoring package for only $99.99 a month for all subjects.  Students can use the service as much as they want, whenever they need it - 24 hours a day 7 days a week.  In person tutoring can run as much as $125 per hour … so this is a deal!

And, you can try before you buy.  ”Ask a Question, Get an Answer!” will show you how online math help works.  Just type your question in the box and click “Connect to a Tutor Now for Free.”  You can talk to your tutor  using voice (VoIP) and share an interactive whiteboard to work problems, simulations, assessments and other tasks.   You just need a computer … no fancy equipment required.

A lawsuit filed in federal court by New Jersey State Senator Raymond Lesniak, D-Elizabeth, seeks to change 1992’s Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act. The law makes it illegal to place sports bets in all but four states, those being Nevada, Oregon, Montana and Delaware.  Lesniak’s lawsuit asserts that the law is unconstitutional, as it gives the four states special treatment.  Lesniak believes the legalization of sportsbook betting is an untapped source of tax revenue the governemnt is missing out on — a belief share by Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., who is considered the champion of sports bettors in the federal government.  ”Gambling is going on here, sports gambling,” Lesniak told the Associated Press. “Rather than supporting thousands of jobs, economic activity and tourism, the federal ban supports offshore operators and organized crime.”

Estimates on the amount of revenue raised by legalized sports gambling range from $700 million to $4 billion annually. That’s a lot of money.

But seriously, can the federal government uphold a law that says gambling is OK in 4 states but not others?  What would the rationale be?  Is it less of a sin to gamble in Vegas than Colorado?  C’mon, anyone can see that this is ridiculous.

Sports betting goes on all the time.  Who hasn’t be offered a chance to purchase a square for a Superbowl game?  Heck, fantasy football is a type of gambling.  I agree with State Senator Raymond Lesniak that a decision should be made.  Either make Sports betting illegal everywhere in the U.S. or make it legal everywhere.  The “in-between” legislation is confusing and doesn’t accomplish anything that even remotely resembles a morale high ground.

Immigration is often misunderstood.  The general consensus is that immigrants are stealing work from Americans.  But what happens when there aren’t enough workers on U.S. soil to fill demand?  Are we comfortable shipping jobs overseas, because we can’t meet the demand in the US?  With global economy, companies can locate anywhere.  Shouldn’t the U.S. being doing everything possible to keep companies and their tax dollars in the United States?

Last year Bill Gates, told a congressional panel that

the US immigration system makes attracting and retaining high-skilled immigrants exceptionally challenging for US firms.Congress’s failure to pass high-skilled immigration reform has exacerbated an already grave situation. As a result, many US firms, including Microsoft, have been forced to locate staff in countries that welcome skilled foreign workers to do work that could otherwise have been done in the United States, if it were not for our counterproductive immigration policies … limits on so-called H-1B visas aimed at highly skilled professionals are far too low for the rapidly growing tech sector… The current cap of 65,000 H-1B visas is arbitrarily set and bears no relation to the US economy’s demand for skilled professionals. All of the 65,000 visas for the current fiscal year were snapped up in ONE DAY last April and that employers were forced to wait to apply for visas the next fiscal year. He also stated that Microsoft was unable to get H-1B visas for one third the foreign-born job candidates that he wanted to hire … If we don’t reverse these trends, our competitive advantage will continue to erode. Our ability to create new high-paying jobs will suffer.

By 2014, the U.S. Department of Labor projects that there will be more than two million job openings in the core technology disciplines. Yet, fewer and fewer degrees awarded in the United States are in engineering and mathematics.  Combine this with immigration barriers that prevent U.S. employers from recruiting foreign technical talent needed to fuel economic growth and ensure competitiveness.  If the US plans to compete globally, we need to be able to hire talent on our own soil.

One of the more obvious barriers to the emigration of talented technical workers to the United States from abroad is the H-1B visa cap.  This restrictive legislation compromises the ability of large American corporations and struggling start-ups to staff and plan for growth.

And just more more fact to think about - If we increase the number of H-1B visas that are available to US companies, unemployment of US nationals will likely fall.  Why? Microsoft has found that for every H-1B hire they make, they add on average 4 additional employees to support them in various capacities.

According to MSNBC Gastric Bypass Surgery is “The miracle weight loss that isn’t”.  With obesity at an all time high, people are looking for a magic bullet.  But MSNBC warns that some experts say that the risks of gastric-bypass surgery are often underplayed. Despite the growing popularity of obesity surgery — and the general perception that it’s a shortcut to thinness and good health — it’ isn’t without huge risks. The American Society for Metabolic & Bariatric Surgery (ASMBS) in Gainesville, Florida, puts gastric-bypass surgery’s death rate at between 1 in 1,000 and 1 in 200 (that’s huge!). In one AHRQ study, 4 in 10 patients developed complications within the first six months, including vomiting, diarrhea, infections, hernias and respiratory failure. Up to 40 percent of gastric-bypass patients can suffer nutritional deficiency, potentially resulting in anemia and osteoporosis; seizures and paralysis have been reported in extreme cases. Some of these malnourished patients experience bizarre neurological problems.

There are other options.  The HCG Diet program is a medically supervised weight loss program that involves no surgery or starving, no outrageous exercise programs, no dangerous pills or expensive packaged meals. Thousands of people have successfully used this diet treatment program built around a low calorie diet coupled with small dose of a hormone that can help stimulate the metabolism.  The results that have been reported are similar to what you might achieve with surgery, but without the side effects.

HCG is a hormone naturally produced in the body. It has many functions and is used medically to treat a variety of conditions. It is the pregnancy hormone, but during pregnancy the levels double every two days. This hormone allows the body to mobilize fat and use it as energy for both mother and fetus. HCG is also being called the “Weight Loss Cure” because after taking it for weight loss, it reprograms your body to use stored fat for energy when calories are reduced for a period of time. Or put another way, it helps you maintain your weight and not regain the pounds you’ve lost.

I was listening to the radio yesterday on the way to school and heard opinions on this Illegal Alien Costume:

The callers on the radio show said things like:

How dare any person be offended! I think it is hilarious, and I believe it should be sold to any  real American. People need to quit their cryin’ and get over it, this is America and if they don’t like it, go back to their own Country!

I say we ban all Halloween costumes because we might offend a prostitute, a nun, or a pirate.  People are too sensitive.

I am going to buy a few of these costumes for friends, parties and pranks. Great costume and too bad for those with no sense of humor.

Grow up. if you don’t like it, then go somewhere else where freedom of speach is not allowed.

Hilarious! Good for the US! Have we offended? I dare you to do something about it…..how about coming here legally? How about learning our language? How about pledging allegiance to our flag? I hope you all are deported.

The costume is incomplete because it doesn’t have a welfare check and food stamps.

If you are offended by this costume, go back to your own country.

We live in a land where the minority rules. Since when do individuals who are illegal earn the right to be represented under a social contract to which they do not belong or support in the form of taxes?

I am saddened to see so much ignorance.  The costume promotes dehumanizing individuals and that’s what makes it wrong.

I am Hispanic.  I am a citizen.  I speak English as a first language.  My family owns a house and pays taxes.  Both my grandparents are teachers and have Ph.D’s.   But what some white people don’t understand is that being Hispanic means that no matter where we are, people assume that we are illegal.   It’s not about free speech, its about being treated like a person who belongs in this country.  Please don’t tell me to grow up when I comment that your costume is racist and dehumanizing.

Let me quote Robert Kennedy and change a few of the words:

But suppose God is [Hispanic]? What if we go to Heaven and we, all our lives, have treated the [Hispanic] as an inferior, and God is there, and we look up and He is not white? What then is our response?

People should learn to be kind.  And part of being kind is recognizing racism and choosing not to participate.  It’s upsetting that people don’t recognize racism when it’s right out front and center.  Poorly played … costume company.  You should be ashamed.

This may be naive or a Captain Obvious statement,  but seriously … if it’s so easy to make an extremely powerful explosive using muriatic acid, shouldn’t muriatic acid be more difficult to buy?

9News reports http://www.9news.com/news/investigative/article.aspx?storyid=123404

Muriatic acid is hydrochloric acid that is legitimately used for masonry work, cleaning concrete and oil spills. Chemists say it can be easily converted into an explosive device.

“You can mix it with hydrogen peroxide and acetone to make TAPT (triacetone triperoxide). Its crystals are more explosive than TNT,” chemist Lynn Reimer said who owns a meth-lab clean-up company called ACT On Drugs, Inc. “The crystals are shock-sensitive that go off when they dry.”

Reimer says that kind of chemical explosive was used by Richard Reid, the so-called shoe-bomber, who tried to light the fuse on the explosives in his shoes on a flight from Paris to Miami in December 2001.

An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure!

Imagine how many tax dollars are being spent on the FBI investigation of Najibullah Zazi of Arapahoe County, Colorado.  Wouldn’t it have been better if  Najibullah Zazi couldn’t buy the materials needed to assemble a bomb?  What if non-licensed contractors needed to fill out paperwork, like you do when you buy a gun whenever you purchased muriatic acid?  Nothing high tech, just paperwork and a quick background check (like e-verify from homeland security).

Just something to think about …

Stop selling Muriatic acid

Yes, the 2009/2010 debate season is upon us.  At Thornton High School we have a new Coach.  I am the President of the team and my partner Dillon is Vice President.  If you are interested in joining - give us a shout.  Our topic is:

Resolved: United States policy on immigration should focus on attrition through enforcement rather than amnesty.

400,000 illegal immigrants cross the borders of the United States every year looking for brighter future than they had in their homeland.  They join the ranks of 10 to 12 million illegal immigrants currently living in the United States.  And current political climate is not welcoming them with open arms.  I visited the Statue of Liberty this summer and read Emma Lazarus’ “The New Colossus.”

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
“Keep ancient lands, your storied pomp!” cries she
With silent lips. “Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”

Not so much, anymore (that’s my addition)

But why has our attitude toward immigrants changed? In 1883 when Emma wrote The New Colossus, the United States was on the verge tremdous change that was result of new inventions and the transcontinental railroad.   We needed warm bodies who would work as cheap labor.  Social programs were unheard of.  Immigrants worked long hours for little money and were happy to have the work.  Without a workforce who was willing to work for low wages, we would not have become the leader of the industrial revolution.

Today, the United States has transformed into a country that cares deeply about civil liberties and goes to great lengths to curb abuses.  We pay taxes to support this infrastructure … and questions about economic effects, providing social services, national security issues, human trafficking connections with drug trade, weigh heavily on our citizens minds.   As Americans look at their wallets, they become very vocal about how their ever increasing tax burden is spent.

So what does “focus on attrition through enforcement” mean?  Attrition through enforcement means utilizing existing immigration and workplace laws as the tool to discourage immigrants from entering illegally. In other words tighten border security and make it difficult for immigrants to live and work in the United States. This solution also includes forcibly removing the 10 to 12 million illegal aliens currently residing in the United States.  This solution relies on the principle that you can deter illegal activity through the credible threat of enforcement.  By pushing the burden to workplace employers, the IRS, and border security illegal immigrants will just go home.  Why would they stay if they couldn’t find work and couldn’t access our infrastructure of social services?  The cost of deportation (if we want to go to the extreme) is estimated at about $41.2 billion annually for five years, according to the Center for American Progress. This amount would exceed the entire budget for the Department of Homeland Security for FY 2006 ($34.2 billion).

What would “amnesty” mean?  This solution would provide steps for the 10-12 million illegal aliens in the United States to become citizens and provide legal channels for additional legal immigration into the United States.   According to one study, amnesty considered by the U.S. Senate in 2007 would have cost the United States $2.6 trillion over ten years.  Yikes.  But what would happen if we grew our population and these immigrants began paying taxes?  Could we provide amnesty to any illegal immigrant who had a sponsor and showed employment?  Who showed that they would be productive member of society?  Obviously we wouldn’t want to make the United States a Welfare state, where those given amnesty became a burden on society.  Would the United States be more competitive in the global marketplace if we had a ready supply of workers willing to produce goods for minimum wage?  And wouldn’t we have more tax dollars to spend if these individuals paid taxes on their income?

Are immigrants yearning to be free? Are they willing to work their butts off for a better life and future for their families?  or are they looking for a free ride at our countries expense?  I think that’s the real question, and I don’t think it can be answered with a broad sweep of the pen.  I think it needs to be made on an  individual case basis, with emplathy and without bureacracy.

Now, I may argue and debate this differently to win the match …

This is our 3rd season with the Sunday Ticket on Direct TV.  I was born in Chicago and moved to Colorado with my family when I was 5 years old.  Sports are a big part of our lives, and football is our favorite sport.  Up until a few years ago, we missed most of the Chicago Bears games.  Then, we made the plunge moving from Cable to Directv and now we never miss a game.  Pre-season games are free on the NFL network, so we will be watching the Bears vs. Broncos game tonight.  Hopefully Cutler will be as awesome as expected!

Direct TV in California is also educational.  Seriously! The Science Channel, NASA TV, National Geographic Television, The Discovery Channel, Independent Film Channel, History Channel, History International Channel, and Planet Green are always showing movies that make my parent’s smile!

But personally, I can’t live without FUSE, VH1, VH1 Classic, MTV and MTV2.  My friends are in the same boat (at least those with parents who made the investment in Direct TV.

There is always something on TV … even though there are way too many channels to surf!