Autonomous Cars

Currently car manufacturers are debating how to program autonomous cars when faced with a sticky situation. One of these situations would be whether to hit a Volvo SUV or a Mini Cooper. Since the Mini Cooper is extremely small, it would take in more damage from the impact than the SUV. The SUV however, would probably have a lot more people in it creating a risk for more people to get harmed. If the car were programmed to hit the SUV that would mean that people who drive Mini Coopers would feel much safer than people who drive SUVs or other larger vehicles. This may cause a larger purchase in Mini Coopers which would be safer from autonomous cars, but more of a danger to very large trucks on the highway being those drivers probably cannot see the Mini Coopers. If the programmers were to program the cars to hit the Mini Cooper then that would probably mean more people getting injured or even killed in accidents involving autonomous cars.
Another situation like the previous is one with motorcycles. If the motorcyclist with the helmet is hit, he or she is being punished for being responsible. This may also encourage more people to not wear helmets.
I personally do not have a side with a random number generator. If there were a random number generator, the car company is not choosing the safest option that would minimize harm. If there were not a number generator then the company could be held responsible for the deaths of people involved.
I feel as though the person in the car should not be responsible for whatever happens because the car is in control. The person did not program the car to do anything so they should not be held responsible for what the car did.

Update November

Over the past couple of Passion Project days I have found policies on Wikipedia's website that tell about what will be taken down from the website and how they as a company determine accuracy. I have also started to research why Wikipedia always asks for donations especially around the holiday season.
I haven't come across any obstacles in the past couple of weeks.
I plan on creating a Wikipedia account then changing an article and I also plan on finishing the research on the donations Wikipedia always asks for.

Passion Project Update 9/19-9/26

Since I have no idea how to open this without it being awkward, I'm just going to jump right in to what I did on the first Friday.

September 19, 2014

I started to create a survey to send out to the class and began researching on what exactly makes a source reliable. After I found a website about the reliability of sources, I realized that I don't know if the website telling me about reliability is reliable. To solve this issue I'm going to use multiple different sources to find this information to check if all of them have the same information. More than likely, if multiple websites have the same information, it is probably true.

September 26, 2014
I continued creating the survey and researching on reliable sources. I think I would have gotten more done if the Great Cricket Debate hadn't started up again. (Sorry about that!) Even with the fact that a certain person was completely wrong about the concept of a wall and was too stubborn to admit it, I still got done more of my research and the survey. Next Friday I should be putting my survey out to the class as long as everything is correct with it and I don't think of anything else to ask.  

Passion Project Update!

As of March 27th:
I haven't exactly started my project yet. My original plan was to do my project on pet peeves and at first I was pretty interested and I was creating a list of pet peeves. I even created a survey and began my prezi. Then I started the research and I could not get into it. Not only was there barely information, but it was all very boring. Since it was very boring (and I have a five second attention span) I kept getting distracted and I couldn't concentrate on researching. It was not going well and I decided I needed to do something or else I would get absolutey nowhere in this thing. 

As I was sitting in the hair salon for two and a half hours, I came up with the idea to change my project to Pixar. I think it would be cool to learn about how they create the animations, what jobs (besides animators) they have there, and the history of the company itself. I've always loved Pixar movies and was always fascinated by how great the animations are. Well, I have an idea and a Ted Talks video (Thanks Ms. Mystrena!) so where do I go from here?

 I need to do research on the company, the programs they use, and anything else that comes up and has to do with Pixar or animations. I also need to create some form of presentation to show the class what I have learned. I think it was a good decision to change my project because I feel that I will actually get stuff done for this project and enjoy it. I do wish if I had changed it a while ago (or maybe even have just picked Pixar to begin with).
As of March 30th:
I began to research the company of Pixar and started to take notes of the history of the company and the films that they have produced. I still need to do everything else that I have mentioned above and complete the history. I'm going to work on it at home so then I can make up for the days that I was distracted with the other project so I should be able to get everything done. 

Updates and Reflections on Passion Project

My 20% Project: Sharpies :)

I believe I am doing pretty good with my project. I'm very far in research and pretty much just need to film it. I have attempted to film it and well it didn't work out, so I'm just going to keep trying to come up with ideas of how to film it. If I anything I think I may have left over time. 

Things I still need to do:

Film the project

Figure out how to film the project

Things I have done:

Researched the history of Sharpies

Researched the different types of Sharpies

Compared Sharpie and Bic

Researched Environmentally friendly aspects of Sharpies

Cited my work

Attempted to film the project (key word: attempted) 

Researched how a Sharpie is created

Researched if a Sharpie is safe to write on your skin or not 

Grades!!

Welcome to my blog post about grades!! (Is that a good introduction? Nah I didn't think so either.) So in Rogate we have been discussing grades and about which we would rather have: Standards Based Grading or the "traditional" way. The "traditional" way as numbers for a final grade and Standards Based Grading as in separate grades for every single thing with a scale of 1-4. 1-Not Proficient 2- Partially Proficient 3- Proficient 4- Advanced Proficient.
I do not think the current grade system accurately represents my knowledge because it is unfair.  What I mean is that numbers do not give us a representation on what we know and do not know in the long run. Some teachers decide to give out extra credit like its candy on Halloween. Just because we answered three questions about Spain or Spanish culture and brought it in on the following Monday does not mean we should get nine whole extra points on a quiz or test. Now without that extra credit I probably would be failing  (aka having a B) in that class, but I still don't think it is fair.  I probably sound like a hypocrite, but anywho I think it is completely unfair that people (like me) are passing the class because of questions they can get off of google.

  I personally think that grades are used to "rank" us. By "rank" I mean see of who is "better" and should get into the "best" colleges. Our grades determine of what school we get into which then determines of what job we get and then of how successful/happy we will be. So pretty much, how we do now will determine our future. Isn't that lovely?
I honestly think the best way to go would be a combination of both the "traditional" way and Standards Based Grading. I think the "traditional" way would be good for tests being that I'm just so used to getting a number grade on a test and I don't think that words will represent the grade properly. When I go and check Powerschool, I'm able to see of how many I got wrong from doing the calculations of points. Whereas with the Standards Based Grading you wouldn't be able to see of how many you have gotten wrong until you have actually seen the physical test itself. I do think that we should have the Standards Based Grading on the report cards though. I have no idea if you are currently picturing what I am, but I am going to keep explaining and you may get even more confused. Oh well! So on a test on fractions in math you can get a 95% and you will see what you got wrong, but then on your report card it may say that you have a 4 (Advanced Proficient) in fractions. If you got a 60% on a test for area and perimeter in math then on the report card you will probably have a 1 (not proficient) or a 2 (partially proficient) in area and perimeter.  You will then be able to see visually on your report card exactly what you need to work on.
Well that seems to be it! Have a wonderful day!!

Hi everybody!! This year I'm on Team Achieve! I'm upstairs just like last year! YAYY UPSTAIRS!!!! (that means less people and I don't like people) I like some of my classes like ROGATE, History, and Algebra. ROGATE is awesome because of the people in it and the way we learn things. History is really fun because my teacher makes the class interesting and has a great sense of humor. I like Algebra for a few reasons, one being that my teacher has an awesome accent and is really nice and two being the people in my class always make me laugh. So school is going pretty good so far.
Enough of school, now for ONE DIRECTION!! WHOOP WHOOP!! And other bands, but mainly One Direction. I can already hear the groans of annoyance, but you've already started reading so might as well finish! If you were in my ROGATE class last year, then you would already know that I'm nutjob about that really good looking boy-band who is currently number one. Even though they are the best looking and best singers of today I still do have other favorite bands. Those bands are: Fall Out Boy, Cold Play, The Fray, Panic! At The Disco!, and The Script. Oh and I like John Mayer too! Well I hope you have a fantabulous day!!