To Those of You..

Driving. It seems like a right that all of us have, but after seeing the way people drive on the street, I beg to differ. People must not really think about how driving can change your life in just a second. Drivers of all ages are breaking laws all the time. Everyday, I see people speeding, not using turn signals, swerving in and out of lanes, and many other things. After going through Drivers Education myself, I often find myself mentally pointing out errors in people's driving technique, even with the driver of the vehicle I'm in. I scare myself when I realize that I'm being driven by people who often break laws that are in effect for a reason. I posted this not to complain about the bad drivers, not to try to change the world, but to get some people to realize that driving badly is not okay.

Shrinking Clothes: A Growing Problem

        The fashion in schools is always changing. One day, it's hoodies and sweat pants, the next day, it is short shorts and tank tops. High school is a place where people try to identify who they are to the rest of their peers. Sometimes, though, the fashion trend is a bit out of the ordinary. Teens often do not know when to stop in terms of privacy and decency which is why some clothes have to be outlawed in school.

School uniforms could make dress codes much easier

        Teens should have reasonable limits on their attire for a few reasons. One reason is that public decency is something that all of us should have, and revealing clothes can be a distraction for everybody in the classroom. Dress codes should be in place to stop this problem, and they are, but there is just one problem. Students don't listen. Because this ongoing issue, many schools across America have decided to put an en to all of it, and switch to uniforms. A polo shirt and nice slacks are way easier to deal with than tube tops and yoga pants.
        Even very relaxed school uniforms are a way better idea (in my opinion) than try to tell students what not to wear. The reason being, the latest fashion trend is always changing, and thus making it hard to tell the kids what not to wear because the list would have to be updated to fit the latest trend very often. If the list is outdated, then nobody will be wearing those clothes anyways.
        It is my belief that it would be simpler and more effective to have uniforms instead of a dress code. JROTC programs have uniforms that have to be worn on some days, and the students don't have a problem wearing them, so there shouldn't be a problem with uniforms for the whole school.

My Sincerest Apologies

Regarding my last post, I am completely sorry. Yesterday, I did not know what was going on. I was not in my normal state. I thoroughly beloved that recycling is in fact a healthy, good activity. I am very sorry to anybody that I offended by my unnecessary outburst yesterday. To all of those that read my blog, or have ever read my blog, I formally apologize, and I promise it will never happen again. The reason for said post will not be said, but I can assure all of my readers that look up to me that it was not anything bad. I understand if people stop reading, but I wish that those words have not lost any loyal fans. And I must mention the last post was in fact a satire.
Best regards,
Sergeant Wilkins Jr. (The Third)

Blogging is Bad Business

        I have noticed something very recently because of this blog that I just started. What I noticed is that there is not much of a reason for me to have a blog. Blogs are nice for people to send their opinion out to the world via Internet. It can also be nice for new ideas, or to have a journal online. Those are all valid reasons to have a blog, but I don't do anything like that. In fact, I don't blog at all. This is somebody else typing, not Sergeant Wilkins Jr. The point is that blogging is a very vestigial activity that many people do. Why would anybody ever want to give useful information or interesting stories to billions of potential readers? It just baffles me.

        People that blog are probably the same people that recycle and eat healthy foods, both of which, are terrifyingly normal. I don't think I'll ever understand what the deal is about writing to an unknown public online. Blogging is just as reasonable as investing money into safe, profitable investments. Speaking of saving money, why do people use alternate sources of travel such as riding bikes or using the max? I just do not understand why people like the environment enough to not drive their own cars.
Extending on the thought of people doing good things for their community, I believe that people feel better about themselves when they try to do something good, even when they know that their efforts are useless. They feel better because they know that they tried by recycling, carpooling, and everything else, for the greater good of mankind. I feel bad for all those people, they work so hard, but they don't get anything in return. Such a shame, but I suppose that's what happens when you make blogs.

Ode to Pants

One day, after years of wearing, 

I finally changed my very old pants.

It took a while, and lots of caring,

but I got out of my trouser trance.

These pants were blue and faded,

they had holes and were fraying too.

But they were never jaded,

and to me, they were as good as new.

They went through much of life with me

without complaining a bit.

Whenever I wore them, I felt so free

'cause of the way they fit.

 Made of such quality fabric,

it was hard to tell their age.

It was like they were made with magic,

but pants can't be made by mage.

I will miss those pants with all my heart,

 but it is their time to go.

people told me it was time to part,

I'll just buy another pair tomorrow.

Are teens ready for JROTC?

Young adults in a program similar to JROTC

Colleges have had programs for young people wishing to join the military. The program, called ROTC teaches the kids about the military through a tough program involving hard work and life lessons.The program later made it's way to high schools with a different name: JROTC. A program like ROTC for high school students has proved problematic and a very hot topic for debates. It is hard sometimes to choose a side because both sides are equally understandable. On one side, people think that high school students are capable of choosing a sensible choice, and will not get fooled by enlisting schemes. One the other hand, People think that JROTC is a cheap way to recruit a large amount of eager, oblivious students. These two arguments are proved legitimate claims. Personally, I think that JROTC should not exist, nor any program similar. It should not be in high school because young people are easily persuaded by free stuff and fun games. It is a bad idea to let unsuspecting kids think that the military is all fun and games. I think it is fine for those who want to be in the military to be in a JROTC class, but my understanding is that many people join to be with friends and have fun. That they have no idea what the military is really like, so they base their knowledge off the class experience. That is just my opinion. I may be wrong.

You Don't Have to Be a Psychic to Like This Show

Shawn (Right) and Gus (Left) are the
crime solving team

Set in Santa Barbara, this show sets itself apart from the rest. There are many police/detective shows, but not like Psych, a television series about a man that claims to have psychic abilities. Shawn (main character and "psychic") uses his "powers", while his buddy Gus (other main character and sidekick) uses general knowledge of everything to solve crimes for the Santa Barbara Police Department that are not solvable to a normal detective. From werewolves to aliens, this duo has seen it all. Shawn started a business called "Psych", which is a private detective agency that solves both personal and police crimes using "psychic" powers. Shawn is a silly guy that tries to make everything fun, which often leads into trouble. The main reason he gets anything accomplished is because of Gus. Gus is the smart person that gives Shawn valuable information all the time. Shawn manages to keep his secret hidden only because he and Gus make such a good team. Without their great friendship and their shinanagans, this show wouldn't be even close to the same.

The Weekly Wilkins

        Hello, and welcome to the first ever Weekly Wilkins! This is a weekly blog post dedicated opinion articles that I find. Today's article is Grading the Graders: Human vs. Robot a New York Times opinion article about how "robots" are not as good at grading essays. With that article, though, I will also bring in another article: Facing a Robo-Grader? Just Keep Obfuscating Mellifluously which is about a new machine designed for grading papers more efficiently. 

        E-Rater (the grading machine) grades by looking for grammatical errors, big words and sentence fragments, and gives points accordingly. One thing this machine does not look for, however, is if the information is correct. Which means that, as it is put in the article Facing a Robo-Grader? Just Keep Obfuscating Mellifluously "E-Rater doesn't care if you say the war of 1812 started in 1945". And the machine gives better grades to longer essays, even if a short essay has better material in it. Therefore, it is very easy to trick it into giving a better grade. 

        In the Grading the Graders article, the author believes that the machine is not a good tool because the writers had great writing that machines could not pick up. I agree with him. I think that the E-Rater should only grade papers on grammatical errors, if even that. For now, at least. The robots might get better in a few years, but right now, grading should be left to the professionals: teachers.

Music is evolving faster than you might think

Music is arguably the best thing humans can hear, which is why it changes so often, fitting our wants and needs. Through the years, music has had some drastic changes in order to fit the desires of the common people. probably the most noticeable adjustment for music over the years would the lyrics. The lyrics for songs got more repetitive and similar. For example a popular song today, Party Rock Anthem by LMFAO, has repeating words to fill in most of the song. 

"get up, get down, put your hands to the sound

get up, get down, put your hands to the sound

get up, get down, put your hands to the sound 

Put your hands up to the sound, put your hands up to the sound

Get up, get up, get up

Get up, get up, get up 

Get up, put your hands up to the sound, to the sound

Put your hands up, put your hands up, put your hands up, put your hands up"

The song is filled with lines that do not really have a meaning. All there is throughout all of the song is the same line, which is not so bad if you are into that type of stuff. But a classic song from 1977 (a 35 year difference) called Mr. Blue Sky by Electric Light Orchestra tells a different story.

It is very common for people of different
ages to disagree about music

"Hey you with the pretty face

Welcome to the human race

A celebration, mister blue sky's up there waitin'

And today is the day we've waited for

Hey the mister blue

We're so pleased to be with you

Look around see what you do

Ev'rybody smiles at you"

This portion of the song has lyrics that make sense. The lyrics to this song can be read like a poem and still make sense, while the top example would not. Over the years, bands slowly changed to produce only hit singles with catchy beats and repeating tunes. Overall, time degraded music by making more simplistic and basic as the years go on. Simple rhythms, simple lyrics, simple notes. Although it may seem as if all music is getting worse with age, all hope is not lost. Many bands are still continuing the tradition of quality music, all you have to do is look carefully. 

A day in the life of...

Cat:

• 10:23. I woke up, and then I went to take a nap.
• 11:54. Later, I went to the mysterious box of sand, and I threw sand all over my owner's room.
• 1:06. After I took another nap, I ate some cat food, but it tasted bad, so I spit it out and vomited all over my owner's bed and clothes. time for some sleep.
• 4:46. I just ran away from my owner for no reason. I'm about to run back in.
• 5:22. Time for bed!

Human:

• 7:00. Woke up for work. Lucky cat is still sleeping.
• 4:19. Just got home, cat is still sleeping.
• 4:46. For some odd reason, the stupid cat just ran away from me.
• 6:06. Making dinner for myself, it's going to be good.
• 7:23. Where is that cat now?
• 9:54. Got to go to bed soon, but a good show is on.
• 11:49. Going to bed, but there is cat vomit all over the place!

Waiting for "Half-Life" can take your whole life

Gordon Freeman (the main character in in the Half-Life series)
finding a portal device.

In 1998, a revolutionary game was released by Valve titled Half-Life. That game set the standards for incredible games with the graphics, story, weapons, and realism (disregarding the fact that the main enemies are aliens). Because of all of the rave reviews, many people were waiting for another game to add to the series. And those people waited for six years. Half-Life 2 was then released in 2004, once again exciting the large crowd of fans. The Half-Life series then received many awards such as "game of the year" and "best PC game", which are very deserving titles, according to many. Even after sequel, more games continued to be released for the Half-life series, including Half-Life 2: Episode 2, Portal, Half-Life 2: Episode 2 and Portal 2. The latest game released was Portal 2, being released in 2011. It took Valve thirteen years (from 1998-2011) to release all of the games so far. Thirteen years is a long time to wait to play all of the games, and the final game has not been released yet. Some might wonder if over a decade is really worth the wait. Personally, I think it is because all of the games are very high quality. But, then again, I would consider myself lucky, I didn't have to wait all those years to play; I started playing them in 2010.

Friendship that turned magic

For my first post as a new blogger, I chose to write about something that deserves more praise than it is getting: Ponies. To be more specific, "My Little Ponies". the show has become very popular a few years back, and thus received the honor of another title, describing the widespread group of fans it has. "bronies" is not only the name of the group of fans, but it is also an Internet meme. Bronies (or ponies) are often made into web comics or animations. The immense popularity of the original television series is the only reason why bronies well-known on the internet. click for more information on "Bronies" and "My Little Ponies" on the links provided.