DIAMONDS ARE WORTHLESS! (Money and Finance)

Short documentary about the marketing techniques surrounding diamonds. Consider this before LAYING OUT big money for a shiny rock to signify your love for someone...




BONUS!!! I sure do love ruining things!!!!

Death Penalty Mega Post

Polls related to death penalty opinions in the USA.

Time magazine article about the death penalty. 

US News article about the death penalty

Death Penalty information. An excellent resource for both sides of the debate.

Death penalty vocabulary. Please try to use this vocabulary during the debate. Also check out this glossary of terminology from PROCON.org.

A	B
Repeat Offender	someone who keeps committing crimes
Felony	serious crime such as rape and murder
Misdemeanor	less serious crime such as shoplifting
Hung Jury	when a jury cannot come up with a decision
To sentence	to give a punishment
To commit	do
Death Row	place where an inmate waits to die
to reinstate	make a law again
prosecution	lawyer(s) for the state
to be charged with	accused of doing a crime
verdict	the decision of the jury
defense	lawyer(s) for the accused on trial
parole	time after prison where a convict is watched for good behavior
to try	to bring to court and have a jury decide
to convict	to find someone guilty of the crime
to appeal	to get a second chance in court with a different jury
armed	carrying a weapon
manslaughter	less serious murder; like an accident
premeditated murder	most serious murder offense
to acquit	to find a person innocent or not guitly of the crime
to witness	to see a crime
lethal injection	method of execution
Criminal liability phase	court process: when the jury decides if a person is guilty or not guilty
A plea	when the defendant says he is "guilty" or "not guilty"
inmate	someone in prison
penalty phase	court process when the jury decides on the sentence (punishment)

National ID card! THAT GOES AGAINST MY FREEDOM!!!!!!!1 REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

For all of my European students...

What is Europe?

by harrymuesli3 hr

Where does Europe start? And where does it end? Let's find out, shall we?

Obviously, the EU is as good a starting point as any. That MUST be Europe, right?

Then let's include countries on the Balkan, as well as the Ukraine corner, Norway, Switzerland and Iceland. Nobody'll argue this is Europe!

So, while we're at it -- Russia can't really NOT be part of our little experiment. We're ignoring the whole Ural thing for now because Russia is Russia, wherever a Russian may be Russian to or from. And when we add Russia, we can add Georgia, Azerbaijan and Armenia. And while we're adding Eurovision countries, let's just get it over with and add the US, Canada, New Zealand and Australia, some of the Europeanest of European cultures.

When we add certain (ex) European colonies, we have to add the rest of them too. So there we go.

Taiwan, Japan and South Korea Europeanized quicker than Europe ever did itself. So we'll add those too. And after 40 years of rapidly shedding its communist feathers for good ole American capitalism, China needs to be included as well. Then there's Iran and North Korea - they're very European in the sense that no European ever feels safe without a common enemy. Also, Kim Jong Un studied in Europe and Iran seemed pretty European before it suddenly wasn't anymore.

So, at long last, there you have it: Europe! In all its glory, with every square cm of possible territory included!

Rubric for Subculture/Counterculture Presentation

Here you can see how you will be graded on your presentation. This is so I can give you some feedback that is consistent among the entire class. Use this to help plan your presentation. Good luck. And don't f*** it up.

A new album from a great artist.

One of my all-time favorite bands is The Knife. The Knife is composed of Karin Dreijer Andersson and her brother Olof Dreijer. Unfortunately, this band broke up a few years back. T'was a sad day indeed. But! Karin also has her own solo project where she goes by the name Fever Ray. She released an album under this moniker a few years back and it had some great tracks like these...



AND



It's been 8 years and many thought that she was done making music but I'm happy to say she's back. Enjoy some new music and music vids from this excellent Swedish electronic artist and performer.

Grammar: Quantifiers!

There are a lot of quantifiers out there. A lot of, many, much, lots of... but how do we use them all? If you want good answers to tough questions about English grammar who do you look to? THE ENGLISH of course! Check out this link from Cambridge English to learn more about how, when, and where to use quantifiers properly and effectively.