Study habits

During the course of the last 2 decades, it seems as if the study habits of college students are changing rapidly to adapt to the digital age. Many students including myself use digital software instead of books to master class material. However, this shift is not exclusive to the student body. Professors are becoming increasingly reliant on technology to facilitate their teaching methods. An article from 2011 found on schools.com discusses the rise of e-learning. It is now common knowledge among college campuses that scholarly resources and books can be accessed through free databases provided by the school. Students see this as beneficial as books and articles can be accessed anywhere there is internet available. However, a study posted on a blog from kqed.org shows that emphasis on technology in an academic setting has a chain reaction on other other form of media students use. There is a looming question here. Does the emphasis on technology in academia allow for more distractions in students lives? If this is the case, than we would have to label this shift as having a reverse effect on modern study habits.

http://www.schools.com/articles/college-students-study-habits-evolving-with-technology.html

http://blogs.kqed.org/mindshift/2012/12/inside-look-at-modern-study-habits/

Saudi Arabia: new regulation for illegal immigrants

The Saudi Arabia ministry of Interior faced a serious problem in the past years with illegal immigrant and labors works without permit or working with a different sponsor.

 Therefore the ministry called on all sponsoring enterprises and individuals, as well as sponsored expatriates, to quickly rectify violations of their related residency and work permits, taking advantage of new exemptions and facilities before the expiration of the period offered King which falls on July 3, 2013.

There will be an inspection campaign soon after the deadline to enforce the labor and immigration laws.

However, all expat violators of the labor and non-immigrant visa regulations, who would like to correct their situations and stay for work in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, will be exempted from all punishments and fines, except for government fees, related to their violations, which took place before April 6, 2013.

A violating expat who would like to leave for good during the given period will be exempted from the non immigrant visa charges, labor license, punishments and fines related to his/her violations on the previous period. However, he/she will be finger stamped; if it happened that he/she was not stamped before, taking in mind that such a measure will not bar him/her from coming back to Saudi Arabia for work, if he/she was properly recruited anew.

Infiltrators, who crossed the border illegally, will not be covered by today's exemptions

The new law will solve several issues as the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has a large number of illegal immigrants coming from different parts of the world for religious purposes then stay without leaving. Some immigrant crosses the border without visa. The number of crime increase due to this issue and a strict law must be enforced to prevent such incidents.

Once the immigrant granted legal stay in the kingdom of Saudi Arabia, their complete records and finger print and their concern sponsor will be available in their computer system to call him in case he/she was needed.

The encouragement of dropping several government charges and violation charges will encourage the immigrant to abide the new procedures.

 http://www.moi.gov.sa/wps/portal/!ut/p/b1/04_SjzQ2NrYwMTUxt9CP0I_KSyzLTE8syczPS8wB8aPM4k2dA5w9LXyNDd0DQs0NjNzMTbyczbwtDLxNgAoigQoMcABHA0L6w_Wj8CoxMYYqcHZ39DAx9zEwsPBxNzXwdPQIDbIMNDY2cIQpwOMGP4_83FT93KgcS88sE0UAQo4NTw!!/dl4/d5/L2dJQSEvUUt3QS80SmtFL1o2X0dOVlMzR0gzMTBGSUUwSVFJSkozR1YzQ0w2/?WCM_GLOBAL_CONTEXT=/wps/wcm/connect/moi+diwan/moi+home+content/home/news/news+archive/moi_news_10-05-2013c_en

(Waleed Binselim)

Blogging About Blogging….. Blog Blog Blog

“Blogging” did not exist before the internet. One only got their information from newspapers and news networks. We all know that the United States as a whole runs itself pretty dirty, and there were traditional gatekeepers that controlled what the public actually heard, and constructed certain limits to how much of a story would get leaked. Since the internet became public in 1995, anybody with connection can post any information that they got their hands on. This newfound freedom allowed people to bypass these traditional gatekeepers of information and become informed from others or inform others. The leaders in public opinion with (usually) and educated point of view post all articles they have written on their own websites, and blogging culture was formed.

People liked bloggers because they were a new source of information that is telling them something that they did not hear from the government, which was truth. One of the first people to break open a major story from the use of blogging is Joe Webb. Webb worked for a small San Jose newspaper company. With the rise of the internet, he started his own side website that was linked from the San Jose Publishing site. He legally got his hands on a CIA report that showed evidence of the CIA’s involvement with Venezuelan rebel group, the Contras, in a humongous crack-cocaine scandal. Structured as a three part investigative report, “Dark Alliance” became the most important published articles of the year, and arguably the decade. Thanks to the internet, people could bypass the traditional gatekeeper of the San Jose Mercury News, not have to order a subscription, and be informed from his blog site for free. This is the power of blogging. He proved that the CIA was allying with, but not proven to have funded the Contras as drug traffickers sold and distributed crack-cocaine in the streets of Los Angeles dating back to the Reagan administration in the 80’s who were also directly involved. This was the beginning of the War on Drugs! Reagan created the problem solely for the purpose of population control; but I digress, because I am approaching a new blog topic. The point is that, drugs are bad mmmkay. And you shouldn’t do them, or be affiliated with anyone who does them. Even if they are the CIA. Mmmmkay. And without blogging, this information would have never been leaked, and the CIA would have never gotten busted. Three cheers for Gary Webb! And blogging! Mmmkay.

(David DiFabrizio)

Lizzie Bennet Diaries

Title: "Then why don't you watch my videos!?" Modern entertainment & transmedia

Please copy/paste the below directly into the html option, not the content option. :)

Blog post:

I am a big fan of the Lizzie Bennet Diaries.

For those of you who don't know, the Lizzie Bennet Diaries is a modern vlog adaptation of Jane Austen's <i>Pride and Prejudice</i>.  In its base form, it's a vlog series; in its full form, it's a massive transmedia project that utilizes YouTube, Twitter, Tumblr, Facebook and several other social media websites.

<center> <iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/zKrqAsEQLwU" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></center>

The overall effect of this means that you can watch the webseries in two ways. The first is as a regular web series, where you watch the videos as you would a normal television series. The second is to immerse yourself in the virtual world that they've created - you can follow the characters on Twitter (Is Darcy following Lizzie? Why isn't Wickham Tweeting?) and Tumblr and keep up to date, in real time, on the story.

Of course, the Lizzie Bennet Diaries isn't the first web series to use this interactive transmedia mode; various other vlogs for the online cult story Slenderman have been using them for ages. Slenderman, an internet myth, is a creature (about eight feet tall, in a suit and no face)  who supposedly lives in another dimension and - to put it bluntly - fucks shit up in the lives of those he comes in contact with.

<center><img src="http://images6.fanpop.com/image/photos/33200000/Slender-Man-vs-Jeff-the-Killer-the-slender-man-33279461-1121-628.jpg" width="400" height="224"></center>

While there are many Slenderman stories and YouTube channels, two of the most predominant ones are Tribe Twelve and EverymanHybrid, both of whom use the interactive transmedia world. a href="http://www.youtube.com/user/TribeTwelve" target="_blank">Tribe Twelve</a> incorporates the most important of the things happening into their videos, so like the Lizzie Bennet Diaries, you can exclusively watch the videos and keep up with the story; EverymanHybrid favors the transmedia method to the point that you NEED to follow their Twitter and other channels in order to even understand what's going on in the videos.

Both methods would be nearly impossible to do with a television show or a movie; because they're so heavily fan based and so incorporated into real time, it takes the smaller and more intimate vlogging format to work. Where entertainment used to be situated into half-hour and hour chunks of time, it now invades (albeit willingly!) every hour and every minute of your day.

Is this a good thing or a bad thing? What do you think about transmedia projects like Tribe Twelve and the Lizzie Bennet Diaries?

(Nicole Brinkley)

Epic Parenting Mistakes

The article that I want to discuss is about a 29 year old women who tried to put up an ad on craigslist for someone to adopt her 3 year old son. The entire article was actually entitled Epic Parenting Mistakes. I found that out of all of these parents only one women used the internet to try to sell her child. This being an illegal act was charged with advertisement of placement of a child. The rest of the parenting mistakes were disturbing, yet comical to read because they are things that you would never expect a parent to do. Another women tried to sell her child to someone she knew in order to get money to take her other two children to Disney World. Who thinks of these things? I found that that this article pointed out some seriously messed up parenting mistakes even if it doesn't include advertising on the internet. 

(Jordana Gelber)

Ryan Gosling Won't Eat His Cereal

(this should be the right link to embed the video into the blog let me know if there is a problem)

-Erica Nardella

Also I thought this post on BUZZFEED was just too funny. If anyone is a fan of Ryan Gosling or you just like looking at him this is so entertaining. 

(Erica Nardella)

People That Inspire Humanity

So this is a link of a video I found on a Facebook page that I liked called The People That Inspire Humanity. This page has some amazing videos that right can make you feel better inside. This video is about a forensic artist drawing a group of people. The catch is he does not look at the person until he draws them twice. The first time he sketches the person they describe to him who they think they look. Then the second time one of the random participants describes one of the other people the artists had already drew. It is a real moving video and confidence boost. Enjoy!

<iframe src="https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?video_id=163242577173124" width="640" height="276" frameborder="0"></iframe>

(Erica Nardella)

Who Will Hold The Rights to the 3D Printed Gun?

     Who will hold the rights to the world's first 3D printed gun? It's a question that seems to have a different answer every day the past few weeks. The gun, entitled The Liberator, began as the project of engineer Cody Wilson. It is made almost entirely out of plastic, and it has the potential to be lethal.

     Unsurprisingly, there was an immediate question of the legality of not only owning The Liberator, but owning the plans to print the gun. The blueprints were taken down from their official host last week by order of the federal government. However, they were picked up by the ever-defiant Pirate Bay, and have been made available through the popular torrent site. As of today, Mega owner, Kim Dotcom, has ordered the files to be removed from any of his servers.
    As if the issue of a gun made of plastic is not enough of an issue (think metal detectors), the distribution of the blueprints is it's own problem. This is an issue that is setting the standards for what 3D printing will truly be. This is a hot topic to watch, as 3D printing will most certainly be available to us in the near future.

Daft Punk Succeeds in "Stealth" Viral Marketing

The past couple of weeks have been really interesting for those who listen to electronic dance music and/or Daft Punk. Daft Punk decided to initiate a form of viral marketing called stealth marketing by slowly releasing bits and pieces of their new single. It started with two 15 second Saturday Night Live ads that showcased 15 seconds each for a total of 30 seconds of Daft Punks new single "Get Lucky".

Ad 1
Ad 2
In the first ad we can hear Nile Rogers' catchy guitar playing, while in the second ad we hear a very catchy snippet of the song with robotic sounding vocals.

Fans immediately took to creating remix after remix, and posting fake "full versions" of the song. But it didn't stop there. On April 12th during the Coachella Festival, a third trailer was revealed which included Pharrell Williams singing, Nile Rogers on guitar, and Daft Punk on bass and drums. The same ad was played the following night during Saturday Night Live.

Ad 3
With this third ad, making a fake "full song" became even easier. Some professional sites even mistook several really good fakes as a leak. Below is a fake that was mistaken as a real leak through all the hype. Clearly many were really excited and jumped the gun on covering the "leak". The original upload has since been taken down and removed, but I was able to locate it after a bit of searching.

Fake
While we had a lot of people creating fake leaks, we also had a lot of great remixes come about. These served to increase the viral hype that had been instigated.

Remix 1

Remix 2

On April 19th, we saw the release of the actual and final version of the single. Through all the viral marketing, 'Get Lucky' wound up being quite lucky. Their viral marketing campaign was very successful. It's become Spotify's most-streamed song in the U.S. and the U.K., beating out American record holder Macklemore and Lewis's "Thrift Shop."

Official Release
With the release of the radio edit, the viral market didn't stop there, in fact, even more remixes, and now, covers of the song started popping up.

Remix 1
Even popular DJ's such as JUSTICE have gotten in on the action recently as can be seen in a small snippet of one of their live mixes.

Remix 2
Now, when I think of a cover, I usually picture someone attempting to recreate the song the way it was in their own style, and the following two Covers do exactly that.

Cover 1
Cover 2
According to the Wall Street Journal, "the stealth campaign to limit the group's exposure has helped make "Random Access Memories" one of the most hotly anticipated releases of 2013. By holding back from TV and concert appearances, the group and its management went against the industry-accepted wisdom that you can only hold fans' attention by plying them with nonstop appearances and regularly dispensed songs... The ultimate sign of interest and respect today is when fans and fellow musicians perform their own versions of a hit. YouTube is already awash with "Get Lucky" covers..." and remixes.

Daft Punk has even come forward themselves expressing their positive reaction to the reception of their work.


With less than 10 days left until the release of Daft Punk's new album Random Access Memories on May 21st, the Electronic Dance Music world anticipates something amazing.

-Jesse Solotoff

Controversial fashion ad? (Amanda Deeter)

"In advertising, the media exist primarily as the means to gather an audience.  However, audiences will not gather if the content is not interesting, useful, or entertaining to them in some way," (McIntosh & Pavlik, 2013).  Attached to this blog is an advertisement for the fashion brand Sisley.  Sisley was established in Paris, France in 1968.  The best way to describe this advertisement is definitely risque.  Upon looking at other ads by this brand, it is clear to see that their goal is to shock and draw in an audience.  This ad is meant to invoke a strong reaction from the audience and spark up their emotions.  They wanted to cross the line and grab your attention in order to get their name out.  Sisley knew that this ad would generate anger and controversy around their name, but people would still be talking about them.  It seems as though they were successful in their goal, in respect to this ad.  This ad is not new but it definitely was an ad that I always remembered.  When I first say this, I heard much debate on whether this ad was successful and ethical.  What do you think.  Is this ad successful?  Is it ethical?

http://blogs.longwood.edu/advertising3/2012/09/21/fashion-junkie-by-sisely/  

Abercrombie & Fitch's Marketing strategy is shaming fat people

Abercrombie and Fitch CEO Mike Jeffries doesn't like ugly people... ???

In other baffling news this week, Abercrombie & Fitch explains why they don't carry women's clothing in sizes larger than 10: they dont want fat people wearing their clothes. CEO Mike Jeffries is quoted as saying (among other things), "Candidly, we go after the cool kids. We go after the attractive all-American kid with a great attitude and a lot of friends. A lot of people don’t belong [in our clothes], and they can’t belong. Are we exclusionary? Absolutely." An article from the Elite Daily website has this quote, "Robin Lewis, author of The New Rules of Retail, spoke to Business Insider about the kind of people Jeffries wants advertising his brand. 'He doesn’t want larger people shopping in his store, he wants thin and beautiful people,' Lewis said. 'He doesn’t want his core customers to see people who aren’t as hot as them wearing his clothing.'" There are a lot of implications here, for example that fat people; a) cannot be attractive, b) cannot be cool, c) have less friends, and d) are an undesirable group to be associated with, as a company. It's also worth noting that while sizes over 10 are not carried in the women's department, the men's section carries XL and XXL sizes, supposedly to cater to larger, athletic men. There's been a lot of backlash on social media sites (here, here, and here, although this gifset was probably my favorite), and an open letter was published on the Huffington Post website. 

I think that this is a despicable message going out to A&F's main target area: Young Adults. Young people (especially young women) today are bombarded by messages and images telling them that they are not good enough the way they are, that they should wear make-up, lose weight, even get plastic surgery because your outward appearance is the most important thing in the world, more so than how kind you are or what's inside your mind and heart. 

Cat film festival!

FELINE FILM FESTIVAL MAKES STARS OUT OF CATS

By: Holly Bailey

            Last year a film festival at the Minneapolis’ Walker Art Center included a seventy minute long that film that was strictly cat videos. These videos were taken from clips found on the internet that had been submitted by people videotaping their cats. The film festival was expecting a few dozen people to show up, but what happened was 10,000 people arrived to watch this reel of cat videos. The Walker Art Center wanted to project a giant movie screen on the lawn for a night, and while people watched the cat videos they could submit which videos were their favorites. The most popular cat video would then be chosen at the end of the showing of the video. This seventy minute long video just shows how these cat videos shown all over the internet are becoming famous over night. For example, one picture of a dwarf cat that looks grumpy was put online and the cat became viral on the internet and is now known as the famous “Grumpy Cat.” Cat videos are now becoming more and more popular, resulting in many people videotaping their cats to submit online and gain viewers. The popularity of these thousands of cat videos shows how fast a 30 second youtube clip can become viral overnight. In the article, Holly Bailey states, “He suspects that’s why the cat video festival has been so popular - it’s a rare opportunity for cat people to interact with each other and laugh at their pets.” This film festival is  causing these “cat lovers” to come together, so that they can now share their love for their pets with thousands of other people. This article discusses how these film festivals are becoming more popular each year, especially the cat video reel because it is attracting viewer’s attention. Cat videos are going to become more popular each year, as they are now bringing cat lovers together to express the love for their pets through these film festivals.

OMG CAT

THRILLER CAT

(Rachael Cummings)

Dove Real Beauty video experiment

While I was on my computer this morning I came across an amazing video that I find to be very interesting and surprising. The video shows a sketch artist that draws people without seeing them. He draws them from how they describe themselves and then draws them the way someone else describes them. During the video, many of the participators realize that society views them differently then how they view themselves; them uglier and less confident. After looking into what the video was about, I learned that it was created by the Dove Real Beauty Campaign. I believe this experiment helped these individuals see how beautiful they are and realize the impact that society has on them. Dove says they wanted to “conduct a compelling social experiment that explores how women view their own beauty in contrast to what others see”. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XpaOjMXyJGk&feature=player_embedded

Along with this experiment, I found another video that helps us to understand why people are so judgmental of themselves. Again, being supported by the Dove Real Beauty Campaign, the video shows how one specific model it altered to make herself more attractive using make up and   technology. I feel that it is important for individuals to know that this kind of transformation is being done to models, and that it is unrealistic for everyone to look the way models are portrayed in the media. Dove states "No wonder our perception of beauty is distorted."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYhCn0jf46U&feature=endscreen

Here are some of the sketches from the experiment

 

 

(Samantha Snyder)

NRA Sells Ex-Girlfriend Target

Just when you thought the NRA couldn’t get any worse, they promote this product recently released by Zombie Industries: an ‘ex-girlfriend target’. Yes, it’s exactly what it looks like: angry would-be domestic abusers can shoot this target until it bleeds, as opposed to actually harming their spouse or intimate partner. The target, referred to as “the ex,” can be shot repeatedly until it is completely destroyed. 

These targets resemble and are referred to as “zombies”. At one point, the company had a line of 15 targets; however, one of them resembled President Barack Obama so much that it was pulled by the NRA. 

This seems to be some kind of twisted attempt to minimize domestic violence. In my opinion, though, it almost seems to be normalizing violence against women. I don’t think this will solve the problem at hand at all; if anything, it will only increase violence. These dummies are eerie to me in that they really resemble a real person.

As the article describes, “domestic violence is the leading cause of injury to women -- more than car accidents, muggings, and rapes combined.” Furthermore, as the article also states, one third of female murder victims are killed by an intimate partner.

So, what do you think? Can this dummy minimize violence, or will it only make it more prevalent? 

(Danielle Vabner)

Colors effects

http://www.colorschemer.com/blog/2007/07/17/why-food-companies-use-red-colors/

After seeing one of the presentations in class about colors, it got me very interested in the topic. I remember hearing something about colors to cause hunger, was unsure exactly what it was. This article shows how certain colors do psychologically make you hungry without you knowing. One of the main colors of hunger is red, which is why it is used in many grocery stores including Costco wawa, Walgreens  and fast food places like mc donalds. The two colors Mc.Donalds uses is red and yellow which are two colors known to cause hunger. Wendy's also includes these colors in order to increase their sales. Also, the colors used in a lot of restaurants are generally calming colors to make the customers nbot only hungry, but relaxed while they wait for there meal. I found this very interesting and began to do a little more research on the topic on found that others colors also have an effect on your hunger. http://blog.restauranteers.com/2011/01/30/the-psychology-of-food-and-hunger/

This article explains a little more on each color if you are interested in doing some further research. Its definitely worth a view.

(Jesse Meyers)

Advertising: How far is too far?

Trigger Warning: This article and the video with it contain mention of suicide and self-harm.

In today’s media, it seems as if nothing is too risqué. From half naked women to dancing hamsters, advertisers are trying to find the next big thing to promote their products. However, one company may have taken things too far. The European Branch of Hyundai released this online ad that showed a man sitting in his car attempting suicide. The man turns the car on in the closed garage and waits for the fumes to overtake him. After a few moments, the man gets out of the car and enters the house.

Why did Hyundai release this advertisement? It was to show that the new ix35 emissions are 100% water vapor. As many people know, if you leave a car running in a garage, the fumes from the exhaust, which is Carbon Monoxide, can kill people in the garage, and harm the people in the room above. What was supposed to be a joke has turned into another sad parody. Many people who saw the ad were triggered by their own problems, or by what has happened to a loved one in the past. Even if a person does not have a past with suicide, the commercial still brought on uncomfortable feelings. Hyundai apologized, stating: “Hyundai Motor deeply and sincerely apologizes for the offensive viral film. The film runs counter to our values as a company and as members of the community. We are very sorry for any offense or distress the video caused.” Sadly, this is not the first suicide themed car commercial to be shown. In 2007, a Super-Bowl ad made by GM shows a robot who is put out of a job. The robot considers killing itself, but thankfully it was just a dream. The ad was supposed to show how GM uses the best technology, and people, to build their cars. The ad has not aired since the Super-Bowl.

While the companies have apologized for the advertisements, the video from Hyundai will forever be out there. People who may be harmed by the ad are still out there and could stumble upon it accidentally. This also begs the question: Is anything off limits for advertisements? Suicide is not a joking matter, and while this video did not make fun of it, it did also not discourage the act. The ad only showed that the car will not be the cause. There is a dangerous slope of glamorizing self-harming acts, and if more companies start advertising this way, who knows how far the glamorization will go.

What do you think? After watching the ad, if you did, are people over reacting, or is this a real concern?

(Elizabeth Cox)

NRA promotes target dummies that bleed at Houston convention

[trigger warning: discusses violence against women]

At the NRA's annual convention in Houston, a company called Zombie Industries offered a selection of "Life-sized tactical mannequins," shooting targets that bleed when shot (yes, you read that right). But what makes this news particularly gruesome is that among the selection is an "Ex girlfriend" target. It was initially listed as simply "The Ex," but has been renamed "Alexa." In addition there there is a "Terrorist"/"Taliban" dummy which is disgustingly racist, as well as the "Rocky" target dummy which was pulled from the selection for looking too much like President Obama.

Violence against women is a very prevalent issue in the United States. The Minnesota Center Against Violence and Abuse (MINCAVA) website states that, "Domestic violence is a gender-based crime with women being more likely to experience domestic violence than men. According to the National Violence Against Women Survey (NVAWS) about 1.5 million women are raped and/or physically assaulted by an intimate partner annually. [...] Women also report suffering more severe physical violence than men." The page goes on to say that, "In 2000, 1,247 women were killed by an intimate partner, while 440 men were killed by an intimate partner."  Knowing that violence against women is such a serious problem, it baffles me why Zombie Industries and the NRA thought it would be in good taste to promote shooting an "Ex Girlfriend." 

If it was about inclusivity as they claim, why wouldn't they put an Ex Boyfriend, and why wouldn't they put a female soldier or just a regular female zombie? The company website stated that, "In addition to the Ex Girlfriend Zombie, we currently sell 15 male zombies, 5 animal zombies & 2 aliens… to discriminate against Women by not having them represented in our product selection would be just plain sexist."

http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entry/vendor-that-pulled-obama-target-at-nra-convention

http://www.vaw.umn.edu/documents/inbriefs/domesticviolence/domesticviolence.html

Obama and NASA Plan to Capture an Asteroid and Place Into Orbit Around the Moon.

According to the new federal 2014 budget proposal from Obama, 17.7 billion dollars will be set aside for NASA. Of that 17.7 billion, 100 million is put aside for new projects that attempt to discover, identify, and locate hazardous asteroids. They also plan to capture (click here for explanation) a small asteroid and put it into orbit around the moon to later conduct scientific experiments on it.



After what happened in Russia earlier this year, I find this initiative to be a good idea. The threat of an extra-terrestrial object impacting our surface is now a possible threat to all of human life on Earth. I believe it is the time to now start funding all types of research similar to this, for the survival of all of mankind. Even though it does cost an extreme amount of money, why not do this if we have the capability to? The advancement of our knowledge of our surrounding universe will have nothing but positive implications for the future of our society.

Watch this video to see the plan of action and a simulated animation on to how it would work.

Lil Wayne

This article discusses the relationship between rapper Lil Wayne and the PepsiCo brand. Because of a lyric in Lil Wayne’s new song the company decided to end their relationship. The lyric is “Beat that pussy up like Emmett Till” which is incredibly offensive because he is referencing a brutal murder that occurred in 1955. This article stood out to me because I watched a video in my storytelling and culture class about the life and murder of Emmett Till. The video talked about the background of Till’s life and how he was brutally beaten to death by a white man. Photos of Till were shown in the video and it was heartbreaking to see this innocent fourteen year old boy so badly beaten. I think that PepsiCo should have ended their relationship with Lil Wayne much sooner than this… I don’t know why anyone would want Lil Wayne representing their products or brand based on his past record. He has been arrested and addicted to cough syrup among other things… not exactly who I would want to associate my company with. Lil Wayne is an idiot and none of his lyrics are profound or meaningful, many are offensive and crude just as this one is. I’m surprised that many rappers haven’t been dropped from companies or sponsors because of offensive lyrics, behaviors, and actions. Our society today ignores these types of lyrics and situations when in reality no one should be allowed to speak such disgusting words.

Soccer Referee Dies... truly horrible

On April 27th, Ricardo Portillo, a 46 year old soccer referee, was punched in the face by a 17 year old soccer player who didn't like a call that he had made. Ricardo was taken to the hospital where he then slipped into a coma. Today, he was pronounced dead.

In the video in the first link Portillo's daughter plainly states that this attack on her father was not the first. In the clip that follows, it is made clear that he is not the only referee of an adolescent sport who has suffered a brutal attack from a player.

Over and over we hear parents justify reasons why they want their children to start out playing sports from a young age and stick with them through high school - because it teaches teamwork, cooperation, respect. Because it keeps them out of trouble and, of course, because it offers a "healthy" way to take out aggression. But after seeing what happened in Steubenville, and what happened in this case along with many others like it, one can't help but wonder what these kids are really learning. Are sports really teaching kids to play nice with others, or are we as a society putting student athletes on such a high pedestal that they find themselves to be above any understanding of human decency?

Somewhere between letting elementary school students pick their own teams for dodgeball, leaving the chubby redhead crying in the bathroom stall, and letting the high school varsity football captain get away with completely word for word plagiarizing 6 papers because he was "so busy with practice and running the team so well this year" (happened at my high school - my ex boyfriend - he loved to brag about it), we've fertilized the path these athletes walk on until they grew into monsters.

A 17 year old punched a 46 year old man in the face for making a call that he didn't approve of, and no one, not even his own daughter, felt shocked by this. Something is very wrong here, and until student athletes are removed from the pedestal we have them on right now, these acts of aggression and hate will continue.

The NRA wants to show that women love guns, too

Apparently there's been an increase in female support of the NRA lately, and they're really trying to bank on these stats. Their new website shows profiles of "armed and fabulous" women who tote their guns proudly. A video on the site includes testimonials about guns by people such as Natalie Foster who claims "authorities do not understand what it is like to be a woman who needs protection from an abusive ex-spouse."

On the same token, some gun sales are now being consciously aimed toward women. The article notes: 

"Saleswomen for Urban Moxy - which describes itself as "loaded with style" - demonstrate how a gun can slide into a purse's lockable, neoprene-lined pocket." 

Interesting. I'm all for breaking down gender roles, but I have a feeling just from reading the way they're pandering to women with these slogans about being "fabulous" and "stylish" that any further attempts are going to be pretty sexist.

TV Reporter Fired After A Slip-Up

Chicago sports reporter Susannah Collins was fired from the CSN Chicago TV station after this embarrassing slip-up. (And they already have a remix to it!!)

Collins was fired after she stated that a team has had “a tremendous amount of sex” when she meant to say “a tremendous amount of success.” The television station is denying that the firing of Collins was in any way related to her Freudian slip-up.

However, if you ask me, the two things happened way too close together for it not to be involved with one another (Collins was fired just two days after). Another thing that makes me wonder about the reason for Collins’s firing is that just two weeks ago, a news broadcaster in North Dakota was fired after his on-air slip.

Now what I find most interesting is that after this slip-up on air, Collins was kind of brought into the YouTube spotlight. From 2009-2010, Collins co-hosted a series produced by Middlebrow Media. The series’s name was none other than “Sports Nutz.” So next time you’re reporting on air, make sure not to slip-up. Or else you might have the public finding out about your time working with “Sports Nutz.”

Marshmallows and Multitasking

A very interesting study that says students' school work suffers when they try to multitask, especially when they engage with multiple gadgets...thoughts?

This is truly amazing. I came across this article while scrolling down for ages on Tumblr and found it to be fascinating. This article is about how a construction site was placed somewhere in London, and when the digging began to create the basement of a large building, the construction workers came across 350 year old ruins from the Roman Empire. It was said that there were layers and layers of civilizations on top of one another, so they decided to call this site “the Pompeii of the North.” They have found ancient architecture, clothing, and even writings. They have even found leather shoes due to how well one of the rivers preserved the artifacts. You would think that the river would erode the ancient artifacts, but apparently it has to do with the chemical compounds or how organic the ancient artifacts were. The most intriguing part of this article, to me at least, it the findings of the ancient writings. It’s allowing for us to discover different events and knowledge that existed centuries ago, such as the selling of a female slave, or different things that the Roman culture practiced that were never found from the other discovered Roman artifacts and civilizations. Unfortunately, some of the ancient site in London was already built on top of and they’re unable to dig further because modern building are in the way. Who know what other kinds of things could be found underneath these giant, annoying buildings? This just makes me wonder how many other ancient civilizations will go undiscovered due to today's industrialism, or even what civilizations actually will be discovered in the future for this exact reason.

Morephone!

            There is now a device that helps people to pay more attention to the world around them.  It is called the Morephone.  Basically, whenever a person is trying to call or text you, your phone will bend.  This way, if you are doing homework or surfing the web, you don’t have to constantly look to see if you missed a call or did not notice a text.  A lot of the time, people over-check their phones because they are afraid they missed the vibrate or the screen lighting up.  This stops their focus on what they are supposed to be doing.  Now with the Morephone, all a person would have to do is glance at their phone to see if it has started to bend.  It can even be programmed so certain bends mean certain things.  For example, if just a corner is bent, you would have a text message, but if the whole thing started to curl, someone would be calling you.  To end the bending, simply push it back into place with your hands.  Just by one quick glance, a person can know if they are being contacted and how they are being contacted, without even having to stop what they are doing.

            This invention has its pros and cons.  It will stop us from constantly checking our phones, which shortens our attention spans and takes us away from whatever we are actually supposed to be doing.  This invention, however, is very large.  It will not fit into a person’s pocket.  Many people like their phones because of how portable they are and will not want to have to deal with figuring out how to hold and carry such a large device.  Also, to make the bending work, the phone needs to be plugged into an energy source.  This invention cannot be used on the go. 

            This invention is only a prototype and still has a lot of fine-tuning to do, but eventually, this device could help people pay a little less attention to their phones and little more attention to what is actually happening around them.