Today’s Media, Nothing but a bunch of Gossips.

More specifically I love all this insane hype over whether or not McCain is a lier, if Hillary is gonna drop out of the race, and the best one, Obama is a Muslim!  Almost any news outlet today is nothing more than hearsay and rumor, with little to no attention paid to the truth behind things, or whats important.  When it comes to politics, screw the candidates positions, I wanna know if they wear a Flag pin or not!  Here is a lovely digg article.

http://urbanlegends.about.com/library/bl_barack_obama_muslim.htm

Which helps make my point more clear.  Even though, Obama has given tons of evidence for his belief in Christianity, which by the way, faith shouldn’t matter anyways, It’s politics people, we should worry about how they’ll treat the economy and our rights more than whether or not they believe in Jeebus or the Flying Spaghetti Monster.  Obama gives testimonies, had a huge political fiasco about his church, which again, more proof that the man is Christian if anything.  Yet there is this constant rumor he’s a secret Muslim.  A secret Muslim?  What is he a terrorist spy sent to take over the Country?  Who cares if he is a Muslim, Islam is not an evil religion, and Christianity is not an all “Good” religion.  People honestly need to start paying attention to the facts of what the candidates believe in politically, not religiously or personally, lest we end up with another George Dubya and Cheney, just thought you all might get a laugh out of this, I sure know I laugh at the media now a days.

Quote of Genius

Non-violence, which is the quality of the heart, cannot come by an appeal to the brain.
Mohandas Gandhi

Pranks: Harmless Fun or Culture Changing Events?

Sniggle.net wants them to change injustices.

“A prank can be a multi-functional tool like a hammer — you can hit somebody over the head with it, or pound nails with it. Pranks are techniques to change life with; they’re based on principles that are not widely known or recognized. People can learn and apply these techniques — not to steal money from other people, but to set up situations for themselves enabling them to do more of what they want to do. The point is to discover and get familiar with the principles that apply…”

— Monte Cazazza

Sniggle.net a site that promotes civil disobedience. It puts its own spin on what a prank is and what they think it should be. That sounds harmless and valiant, but where do these pranks stop. The pranks set up more “situations for themselves enabling them to do more of what they want to do.” How do they want to accomplish their goals and where does it end, if there is an end in sight?

Internet free speech?

China is constantly censoring things from the internet and gains support from companies to do so. A blog hosted in the U.S was even shut down becaase of the messages it had.

http://www.boingboing.net/2006/03/13/chinas-net-censors-c.html

Where does this censorship end? Some blogs shut themselves down as a joke to bring attention to what is happening. Is this a real possibility though? Years ago I bet people didn’t think our phones would be tapped so we could be “patriots.”

Herbal Essence commercial: sex sells

 

This commercial is a perfect example of how sex sells. A young, gorgeous girl goes ends up at the same destination as some “badass” bikers…and somehow decides to wash her hair. The bikers are amazed at how silky and soft her hair turns out. The biker follow her lead and decides to wash his hair and results in the same beautiful locks. 

Ethos, Pathos, and Logos in film

 

This is a clip most likely used in a film class depicted different ways producers choose to use the art of persuasion and the three aspects: ethos, pathos, and logos. The four clips from four different movies each show something different. For example, in Men and Black, Will Smith attempts to explain his logic of shooting the little girl instead of the monsters to his commanding officer. Our class period in which we talked about ethos, pathos, and logos in magazines and other media forms was one of my favorites so I chose to post something related to it!

Nicole Richie: Thinspiration

 

This is a collection of images of Nicole Richie compiled by a young girl who idolizes Nicole Richie. They are photos posted, in this girl’s opinion, to inspire young girls to be as thin and look as good as Nicole Richie does. In most she looks anorexic and quite unhealthy. This video helped me write my research paper on how the media is affecting young girls. Developing eating disorders is very common today in teenage girls who are struggling with self-image and body image. 

Un-killing the Electric Car

Chevy is currently has in prodution a concept car called the Volt.

The extended-range electric vehicle is no longer just a rumor. We have put tremendous design and engineering resources in place to make this vehicle a reality.

The Concept Chevy Volt, with its revolutionary E-Flex Propulsion System will be different than any previous electric vehicle because it will use a lithium-ion battery with a variety of range-extending onboard power sources, including gas and, in some vehicles, E85
ethanol(1) to recharge the battery while driving.

When it comes to plugging in, the Volt will be designed to use a common 110–volt household plug. For someone who drives less than 40 miles a day, Chevy Volt will use zero gasoline and produce zero emissions.(2) For longer trips, Chevy Volt’s range-extending power source kicks in to recharge the lithium-ion battery pack as required. We expect a driving range of an estimated 640 miles.(3

The expected release date is set for 2010. It will be interesting to see if this car reaches mass production or if it gets scrapped as the EV1 did.

Greenwashing to Nuclearwashing

Recently in my physics class our discussion was about Nuclear energy and its uses.  Professor Raby stated that a nuclear power plant hasn’t been built in the US in over 30 years.  Nuclear energy does not produce any greenhouse gases or any other harful pollution other than used uranium fuel rods.  These fuel rods can easily been stored underground in Yucka Mountain, Nevada, where scientists have proven that they would not harm the environment for a million years.  After all, the uranium came from the ground in the first place.  In addition, 10 times more people die from producing coal and oil energies than nuclear energies.  The only accident with nuclear energy that occured in the US was the incident on 3 mile island in Pennsylvania.  Nobody was killed, nobody was injured, and nobody got sick from it.  With the scare of that incident nuclear energy sites took more care in ensuring that it would never happen again, and made the plants much safer.

Nuclear energy is proven to be safe and much less harmful to the environment but the only reason that we do not use it much in the US is because of politics.  People are afraid of the word nuclear because they often associate it with nuclear bombs.  However, the ingredients and construction of nuclear bombs is totally different than those of nuclear reactors.  It is impossible for a Nuclear reactor to explode like a bomb.  My professor continued to go on for a half hour about how  it is absolutely absurd for us not use nuclear energy.

With all of this said, wouldn’t it make sense to start lobbying to Americans that nuclear energy is safe and much more efficient than any other energy out there today.  I think energy producing companies should promote nuclear energy and end their Greenwash advertising.  Would you be opposed to nuclear energy if scientists held lectures on why it is safe and more efficient?  

Empire Strikes Barack

I don’t know how many of you are that interested in politics, but I thought this video was pretty funny. It doesn’t really have anything to do with class, but I thought i’d post it for everyone who hasn’t seen it.

Here’s the other one that didn’t show…

This one always cracks me up…

Durex Commercials…

Here are a couple of the durex commercials i spoke about in class when i was presenting my paper on “The Representations of sex in condom ads.” This is their attempt of using humor and pointed imagery as a way to raise awareness and increase the number of people using condoms in the US to lower the statistics of STI’s and other VD’s. One is of the guy walking through town with a bunch of men dressed as sperm following behind. The other is of the president of Durex company slamming his “member” in a car door with a condom on proving the sensitivity level of the competitors condom vs durex’s products.