E-cigarettes have been under attack in many states in the US. This attack came to Washington with some of the harshest regulations in the nation. These bills (one senate, and one house) SB5573 and HB1564 have threatened those who use e-cigarettes with higher taxes (95%), reduced flavor selection, and banning online sales to any Washington resident, to name a few.

Many e-cigarette uses have switched over from smoking, even though e-cigarettes are not marketed as smoking cessation products. If these new regulations become a reality, it is entirely possible that many e-cigarette users will switch back to smoking.

The information that is out there needs to be sorted through. Figure out what you can, and learn for yourself what e-cigarettes are and how they work. Below are some resources to help inform the uninformed:

Consumer Advocates for Smoke Free Alternatives Association

http://www.pinklungbrigade.org/

Check out the Pink Lung Brigade (http://t.co/ru76o4I2Rp) for all of your Washington State vaping regulations!

— Nathan Oldenburg (@frizzlefry252) March 31, 2015

5 months after quitting smoking, with the help of e-cigs. Why all the attacks? Almost seems like our government wants to keep us hooked.

— Nathan Oldenburg (@frizzlefry252) March 31, 2015

Check out http://t.co/eJwAt3xpt8 for blogs full of information by vaping personality Grimm Green!

— Nathan Oldenburg (@frizzlefry252) March 31, 2015

http://electroniccigarette.asia/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/infograph.png

There is a lull in this fight against strict vaping regulations in Washington state. Check out http://t.co/1Q2IzqUW4m for updates!

— Nathan Oldenburg (@frizzlefry252) March 31, 2015

It is a common misconception that video games are an unhealthy habit for our children. People say that gamers are missing out on a social life, this is untrue as many games are multiplayer and require cooperative play. Sure its not necessarily face to face but they may in fact be more socially constructive than texting or social media. Another benefit of video games is cognitive. In controlled tests, people who played first person shooters showed “faster and more accurate attention allocation, higher spatial resolution in visual processing, and enhanced mental rotation abilities.” It also showed that their brains were more efficient. One of the biggest arguments against video games is that they cause children to be violent. Experts believe that violent video games in fact reflect our violent society rather than cause it, and that video games provide a space to work out emotions like anger, and generate positive feelings.

http://www.apa.org/monitor/2014/02/video-game.aspx

https://www.apa.org/pubs/journals/releases/amp-a0034857.pdf

http://www.ign.com/articles/2014/08/04/study-finds-that-children-benefit-from-playing-video-games

Video games improve the players hand eye coordination.

— Riley (@rawwwleyy) March 31, 2015

More than 1.2 billion people play video games.

— Riley (@rawwwleyy) March 31, 2015

Playing video games may boost children's learning health and social skills, according to a review of research in American Psychologist.

— Riley (@rawwwleyy) March 31, 2015

Violent video games reflect a violent society they do not cause it.

— Riley (@rawwwleyy) March 31, 2015

Video games are proven to be a useful tool for bringing families together.

— Riley (@rawwwleyy) March 31, 2015

Testing products of any sort on animals is wrong. Sadly, this goes on in thousands of companies, universities, medical labs, and more every day. Exact numbers aren’t available for the full extent of animals that tortured, because animals such as rats, mice, and birds don’t even get counted because of their lack of coverage under the Animal Welfare Act. PETA estimates the number of animals harmed every year to be over 100 million. Organizations such as the Food and Drug Administration, Environmental Protection Agency, and the National Toxicology Program are just a few to name that test on animals.

Some of the neurotic effects this has on animals are:

No living thing should have to feel this for the entirety of their life.

http://www.neavs.org/research/harm-suffering
http://www.peta.org/issues/animals-used-for-experimentation/animal-testing-101/

Tweets:
https://twitter.com/LuskDTC/status/582931404851310593
https://twitter.com/LuskDTC/status/582931941965467648
https://twitter.com/LuskDTC/status/582933062612226049
https://twitter.com/LuskDTC/status/582934106243100674
https://twitter.com/LuskDTC/status/582935013273944065

For my capstone project I will be discussing reasons we should introduce coding to our youth.  After doing some research I found that there are more benefits than I thought.  Learning to code at an early age can help improve their problem-solving skills, It helps them become more fluent with technology.  The need for programmers is rising exponentially every year.  With nothing more than their minds and a computer, today’s kids can use the programming skills they’re learning to build something amazing. This can also directly lead to greater confidence and self esteem.  It’s important that we look more into this.

HEre are some resources:

https://www.flocabulary.com/coding/

https://code.org/

Coding is the new language of the world. It's time to get our kids started now!

— Tyler Rundle (@Tyundle) March 31, 2015

Learning to code at an early age can help improve their problem-solving skills

— Tyler Rundle (@Tyundle) March 31, 2015

The need for programmers is rising exponentially every year, lets get our youth more involved!

— Tyler Rundle (@Tyundle) March 31, 2015

Coding it’s projected to grow at a rate of 30% between 2010 and 2020. That’s twice as fast as most other jobs.

— Tyler Rundle (@Tyundle) March 31, 2015

There are tons of resources to get our kids involved with coding now, the majority of them are free. The time to start is now!

— Tyler Rundle (@Tyundle) March 31, 2015

The crisis began as a protest against the government dropping plans to build closer trade ties with the European Union, and has since caused escalating tensions between Russia and Western powers. This crisis stems from poor governance, heavy reliance on Russia, and sharp differences between Ukraine’s linguistically, religiously, and ethnically distinct eastern and western regions. Former President Viktor Yanukovich signaled agreement with the EU on a trade association agreement, but he dropped those plans seemingly overnight because of pressure from Russia, which provoked major riots. How I see it, Ukraine would benefit more from signing with the EACU rather than EU because of their significant reliance on Russia for gas, and being its largest export client.

More information can be found here:

http://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/eu-russia-ukraine-dilemma

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/crimeans-begin-to-consider-the-real-benefits-and-costs-of-joining-russia/2014/03/13/b89db4b4-aae7-11e3-b8ca-197ef3568958_story.html

https://twitter.com/elijahpavenko/status/582791861003141120

https://twitter.com/elijahpavenko/status/582792641626001409

https://twitter.com/elijahpavenko/status/582793193894195200

https://twitter.com/elijahpavenko/status/582794154792476673

https://twitter.com/elijahpavenko/status/582795341084262400

Importing cars in to the US has always been a huge deal. US customs, working in part with the US department of motor vehicles have tried their hardest to prevent people from importing cars. In the US there is a huge demand for foreign cars that were not originally designed for the US market. These cars are mainly Japanese, and have created a cult following for themselves. Currently the import law in the US has a 25 year age limit. Our neighbors up in Canada have a 15 year age limit. I am supporting the cause to help bring down the age limit for imported cars into the US down to 15 years.

Import Laws into the US

Import Process

My Twitter

My project is on the controversial topic of whales and orcas being help in captivity. There are many reasons why these amazing creatures should not be help in captivity, the first being that these are whales that when living in the wild, are swimming for up to or around 100 miles a day. At parks such as SeaWorld, they are being kept in pools that are like bathtubs to them. Also, not only has there been many deaths of trainers that have been covered up by SeaWorld, but gruesome deaths of the whales themselves.

Here is a list of a few more reasons why whales should not be kept in captivity:

• Premature Deaths
• Social problems between whales
• Inadequate diet
• Numerous safety hazards for  whales AND trainers
• Misleading the Public

Check out this Link for more info:

http://us.whales.org/wdc-in-action/captivity

Tweets:

https://mobile.twitter.com/MegginBeggin/status/582757858900471808?p=v

https://mobile.twitter.com/MegginBeggin/status/582757888508080129?p=v

https://mobile.twitter.com/MegginBeggin/status/582758214015406081?p=v

https://mobile.twitter.com/MegginBeggin/status/582758620300886016?p=v

https://mobile.twitter.com/MegginBeggin/status/582759124301033472?p=v