Accused Harvard Student of Bomb threat was"Under Pressure"

 A Harvard student accused of making a bomb threat to get out of a final exam was under a great deal of pressure and seems remorseful, his lawyer said Wednesday after his client was freed on bail.

The U.S. attorney's office in Boston alleges Kim sent hoax emails Monday saying shrapnel bombs would go off soon in two of four buildings on Harvard's Cambridge, Mass., campus. The emails came minutes before he was to take a final exam in one of the buildings.Eldo Kim, 20, was released on $100,000 bond into the custody of his sister, who lives in Massachusetts, and an uncle from North Carolina. Attorneys did not say where he will stay.

The buildings were shut down for hours before investigators determined there were no explosives.

Federal public defender Ian Gold says Kim was dealing with finals and the third anniversary of his father's death, which is this month.

"It's finals time at Harvard," Gold said. "In one way, we're looking at the post-9/11 equivalent of pulling a fire alarm. Certainly I'm not saying the government response was unjustified, but it's important to keep in mind we're dealing with a 20-year-old man who was under a great deal of pressure."

- I believe it's pretty insane to make a bomb threat to the school just to get out of an exam. It's understanding that a student will be under pressure. In fact, just about every student feels under pressure when taking a final exam. I don't think you can use a family member's death to back up why you might not be able to be ready for a final exam. There is a difference between your personal life and your education. Probably this bomb threat hoax could of been avoided by simply getting well prepared for the final exam on time. It's better to get a C on a final exam rather than getting arrested and identified as an accused bomber to the whole nation. Another flaw i think Harvard stiudents have is that they crave that "A" and not a B or a C. Everything is not always going to come out perfect or the way you want it to be. Therefore, they should keep their standards high but not over do it.

High School Seniors don't think it's a big deal smoking Marijuana daily

More than 60 percent of American high school seniors do not think regular marijuana use is harmful, a new survey conducted by the National Institutes of Health's Monitoring the Future project finds.

That figure is up from 55 percent in 2012 and considerably higher than rates from the past two decades.

The survey also found 6.5 percent of 12th-graders smoke marijuana daily, up from 6 percent in 2003 and 2.4 percent in 1993.

It also showed that marijuana use increases with age.

Nearly a quarter (23 percent) of the seniors say they smoked marijuana in the month before the survey, and just over 36 percent say they smoked it during the past year.

Among 10th-graders, 4 percent say they use marijuana daily, 18 percent within the past month and 30 percent in the past year.

More than 12 percent of eighth-graders say they used marijuana in the past year, the survey found.

By contrast, use of alcohol and cigarettes among teens continues to steadily decline.

- These new findings do not surprise me at all. I believe that many students are involved in some type of drug or in alcohol. Maybe the seniors do not believe that daily use of Marijuana is bad because they are satisfied with the effects it has on them. According to social sites or television programs,weed is considered to only give you good effects and that it is pretty harmless. Many young Americans even believe that Marijuana is better and safer than alcohol. Day by day, there is a high school student smoking Marijuana just to feel the effects or to simply look "cool" for their friends. Young people do not think about any consequences Marijuana can hold.

Wrong or Right Father?

A father’s attempt to teach his son a lesson for taking his truck without permission ended in tragedy Monday after a local police officer shot the teenager dead.

James Comstock told the Des Moines Register he called the police on his son Tyler after the latter took the former’s truck in retaliation for refusing to buy him cigarettes.

Ames Police Officer Adam McPherson reportedly spotted the lawn care company vehicle and pursued it onto the Iowa State University campus, where a brief standoff ensued after Tyler allegedly refused orders to turn off the engine.

McPherson eventually fired six shots into the truck, two of which struck Tyler who was later pronounced dead.

The official report claims the action was necessary in order “to stop the ongoing threat to the public and the officers.”

Tyler’s dad says he was unarmed at the time.

“So he didn’t shut the damn truck off, so let’s fire six rounds at him?” exclaimed Gary Shepley, Tyler’s step-grandfather. “We’re confused, and we don’t understand.”

James said his son had his fair share of minor troubles with the law, and was distraught over a recent breakup with his girlfriend, but was in the process of turning his life around, and was working on obtaining his GED at Des Moines Area Community College.

“He was a smart kid. He made his own computers. He was interested in IT,” James told the Register.

The family’s demands for answers got even louder following the revelation that a member of the Ames police department suggested twice that officers call off the chase.

“He took off with my truck. I call the police, and they kill him,” James said. “”It was over a damn pack of cigarettes.”

McPherson is currently on paid leave pending the results of his department’s investigation.

-I believe this is a tragic event in which the father of a young man was trying to teach his son a lesson.It makes me believe that even the smallest things people argue about can actually bring life changing consequences. This young man was looking forward in fixing up his education and  was going through a rough time in which he Had a break up with someone. At the same time i do not think its very right to call the police on your own child just because they wanted to buy some cigarettes.However, bringing a threat to people around him can give a reason to call the authorities.

A new form of bullying?

There has currently been a great use of a website called Ask.fm. Ask.fm allows people to create a profile with their picture and information about themselves. Any person or a current user can access the profiles of other users and can choose to ask a them any question anonymously or to identify their user information along with the question they ask.Many believe it's a great way to compliment people or to simply ask positive questions. Sounds fun right? Well, there has been many problems dealing with his website. Although Ask.fm has a positive purpose, many teenagers are using the website as a way to insult and harass their peers. There are several users of Ask.fm  that are being bullied by anonymous people and such actions can create negative thoughts to young people.As users can anonymously say whatever they want to others, these type of sites have led to cyberbullying and even suicides.

Therefore, there are many parents taking action concerning this website. Parents fear that their child may be using this site and may even be either a victim or a bully using Ask.fm.According to Joan Early, Teens flock to Ask.fm but is the social media site dangerous?, suicides of nine teenagers have been linked to Ask.fm this year alone. Jessica Laney hung herself after she was bullied relentlessly through her Ask.fm account, according to her family.  Anonymous users called Jessica "fat" and "a slut." One post read, "Can you kill yourself already?" The harassment proved to be too much for the Florida teen to take. I believe this website should be taken down as it can cause conflicts upon teenagers. Many people encourage us to stop bullying right? So there should be action taken against Ask.fm.

Education

I believe that everyone needs education no matter what the circumstances are. However, there has to be a correct way to introduce education to young minds as well. In order to take advantage of education one must be taught things the correct way. Speech is the number one thing that should be taught correctly to make his or her education valuable. There are many children among us that are used to speaking with slang. Slang is taught by where they are living at which can be by parents or relatives. Education should be helpful to change those habits that children are so used to, or even adults as well.

Patience is an important thing about education. Everyone does not have the same capabilites to learn fast and fully understand a certain topic or lesson. Teachers and parents should have the most patience with children in order to obtain the results of the education they are giving them. Everything does not come easily, there has to be work put in to make good progess in the later future.

Education changes many people's lives around state to state. If you obtain good education, there are so many opportunities into having a good life in the future. Education gives minds determination to do so many things. It opens up people's eyes to many new outlooks on certain opportunities they are capable of working for. Education can be the key to your most desirable wishes. Such as having a career in the medical field, being a lawyer, a social worker, a scientist, etc.

Grading should not be abolished but it still has disadvantages

I believe that grading should not be abolished. Why you may ask? Well i conclude that everyone should be graded in order for them to know where they stand in terms of capabilites. Certain people do poorly in grades because they choose not to do their tasks they are ordered to do and others complete their assignments day by day. Therefore, this can show others how well they can perform in a task. Colleges, institutes, jobs, and corporations need grading in order to know who they can accept and not accept. For example, if you hire someone that has good grades it is more likely they will perform beter at the job than a person who does poorly. On the other hand, grading does not always give accurate results. There are some situations where there are teachers that give whatever grade they please to a student.Many teachers threaten students by grading. Teachers do this because they believe that there are many students who are lazy and that the students need to be pressured into getting away from the habit of being lazy all the time. Also, another issue dealing with grading is testing. Testing is the major and true accurate result of what each persons' knowledge. However, not everyone has good testing skills which makes many people believe that testing is pointless. In my opinion, testing is very neccessary  to know what each person is capable of doing. Without testing, school boards would not know how each student is progressing during the school year. According to Paul Goodman in his writing, "A Proposal to Abolish Grading", he states " a comment about testing which is, "But if the aim is to discover weakness, what is the point of downgrading and punishing it, and thereby inviting the student to conceal his weakness, by faking and bulling, if not cheating!" This statement explains that testing can lead many people into cheating because of how worried they are appearing unintelligent among their peers and therefore makes their weak side come out as in lowering their mentality into cheating and not using their own brain. However, grading is needed for everyone's performance level.

Losing Loved Ones

Life isn’t always made for everyone. There are many people who lose their lives. The lost of loved one is the most painful and difficult part in life. It makes a person fall quickly into a deep, dark depression for some days, months, or even years. It allows you to realize how easily and unexpectedly life can be taken away without you or anyone knowing. 

My lost loved one was my father, Isabel Jimenez. It was very devastating to me and my family when we found out about the news of his passing. At the time I was no longer living with him but with my mother only. I didn’t have many opportunities to see him during that period of time and it really caused me to feel sick inside. It was not an illness that could be cured. It was a sort of depression I guess you can say. However, my father suffered from an addiction that could be never turned around. It was the addiction to alcohol. Many people believe it is not a big deal since it’s not an actual type of drug, but it can destroy lives as well as any other drug. Along with my father’s addiction, he also had Diabetes and other health conditions. These health problems made everything worse for his particular situation. In fact, he stopped taking his medication to keep his Diabetes in moderate control. This caused him to feel even more ill than ever before. My father’s addiction was at an all time high. My mother had informed me that my father started showing some signs that he could become into an alcoholic even before I was born. Therefore, he always had a drinking problem but he would stop for a couple of years and fall right back into those same footsteps that kept destroying him day by day. The awkward thing is that my father’s mother had the same problem as him. His mother died when he was only five years old and it was because of that monstrous killer, alcohol. My dad would drink so much that it even astonished me in many ways. He would drink day and night, non stop drinking that killed me inside each time I saw him take even a simple sip.

 The day I got the sad news was on a school day. I was checked out of school and I went home with my old brother and my mother. They told me the news in my room. Right away I bursted into tears like never before in my life. I felt as if the whole world fell to my feet and everything turned dark in my surroundings. My heart dropped instantly and got crushed into tiny bite size pieces.

The day of my father’s funeral and burial was unforgettable. It is an event that can never ever be forgotten. Right in this very moment I can still see him in his coffin, all cold and out of life. It made me realize that he is actually gone from this shady cold world. Could it be a good thing? Was it God who wanted this? Did my father’s mother want him to be with her in heaven? Is my father finally resting in peace? I wonder these things very much.

I just wish I could see my dad again and tell him how much I love him. I wish I could hear his voice and hug him real tight like I always have. I just wish things could have been different in our lives. Even if he was an alcoholic, he was the man that taught me right from wrong, he never treated me wrong, he always took care of me, and he always supported my family any kind of way. He is gone but never forgotten and he will always be in my mind, soul, and heart.