secret messages...PART 2

One of the themes in our AIS class is to look at things beyond the obvious. Well today I was watching Anderson Cooper 360 and they had this little segment about "secret messages". It goes as follows:
So basically this republican presidental candidate hopeful, Mike Huckabee, recently ran a Holiday themed campaign ad. As he was talking about whatever people talk about in those commercials you couldn't help but notice the bookshelf in the backround. Heres an example of whats in the ad:




Notice anything??? Doesn't it seem that the lighting on the bookshelf makes it resemble pretty close to...lets say....a cross?? Now, Huckabee defended himself be saying that the bookself is just a bookself and nothing else. Of course anyone whose has been in a library could say that because there is literally a bookself in behind this guy. However, if you were to look further into it you could determine the following. Since we are getting extremely close to Christmas (7 days for those keeping track) and its a Christian holiday don't you think that Huckabee could be trying to catch the attention of those Christian voters. I mean, the majority of voters (approximentally 82%) in American are Christian. In my opinion its just simple math: Christian voters+huge majority+cross=votes for Huckabee. Do you think this is just a "fluke" or did this guy running for president really ment to connect with all those potential voters in only thirty short, sweet seconds?




If you want to see the complete ad you can find it at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8xn7uSHtkuA


Oh, and Happy Holidays.

Mitchell Report

As almost everyone has heard from the news about Senator George Mitchell's investagation into the use of steriods in Major League Baseball. Among the 89 or so accused in the report were some players who broke home run records and won World Series. However, what exactly is the punishment for all these players?





Take Marion Jones for an example.



She has been considered to be one of the fastest women on the planet and one of the best track and field female participants ever. Howver, in October of 2007 Marion admitted to taking steriods before the 2000 summer olympics where she won 5 medals. As a punishment, she had to forfeit all her medals, results, points and prizes that she won after September 1, 2000. That included those five Olympic medals. Besides having to pay back her prize money she also had to retire from track and field. The worst punishment was that besides Jones giving back her medals, her teammates who competed with her in the Olympic relays had to forfeit their medals as well.

What does this have to do with baseball??


Well, if Marion's punishment seemed harsh then I think all those who took steriods during their baseball careers should have to go through the exact same embarassing process as she did. That means that those people who won the World Series and had teammates taking steriods should have to give up their titles as well. Its not far that one person should have to pay back so much while others get away with nothing.

PoLiTiCaL cOmPaSs

Following our dicussion is class about what exactly the political compass is, I decided to try it our for myself. My results are kinda surprising, I thought I was more moderate than liberal, but I had no clue exactly how right, left, up or down I really was.
My results:

Heres the skeleton of the compass and what it means to be to the left, right, up, etc and also some famous people and where they stand: http://www.politicalcompass.org/images/axeswithnames.gif

Finally, here are people today, presidents popes, or leaders and where they stand on the spectrum: http://www.politicalcompass.org/images/internationalchart.gif

If you want to take the test yourself go to http://www.politicalcompass.org

I recommend doing it. You might find out more about yourself than you previously knew. Also, a great idea to incoorperate this user map in school would have the class discuss each of the questions. Not nessessarily take the test but pick out two or three and see how people react.

You Say You Want a Revolution....NOT

"Evolution, not revolution. That was what America was all about"

This excerpt from Nelson DeMille's book The Gold Coast seems crazy when you first read it but as you think more about America and our history as a country you begin to see that that sentence might not be mumble-jumble at all.

Here are the definitions to revolution and evolution (courtesy of dictionary.com):

rev·o·lu·tion: an overthrow or repudiation and the thorough replacement of an established government or political system by the people governed.

ev·o·lu·tion: any process of formation or growth; development



Sure people can say that our country started from the American Revolution against Great Britain, but what did we do after the war? We changed the way we govern to fit our own standards. The Constitution is a perfect example of how our country has benefited from evolution. Our first Constitution, the Articles of Confederation, was based off of the saying "We will never be like them" (Them being England). However, as Americans went about their daily lives it was obvious that there were major flaws in that document. Our lower stage of laws no longer help the country and in turn our founder's developed the Constitution that we now know of today.

Even looking at modern day we can see that evolution is key to America. Technology has never revolted against us or itself. It has gone through a rapid evolution from the telegraph to the Internet in less than 200 years. Another example is when one business succeeds by taking in new trends and using that to their advantage while another business never changes until it is too late.
You say you want a revolution? Why not evolve to make your life better.

To remember or not Remember...THAT is the question

"[AJ] remembers almost every single day of her life since age 11"

"There is an 85-year-old man, a retired lab technician called 'EP', who remembers only his most recent thought"

The above are two quotes from the November 2007 issue of National Geographic. The 25 page article not only shows two enormous extremes, but also questions a humans ability to remember certain things. How can Yo-Yo Ma forget his 2.5 million dollar cello in the back seat of a taxi? What gives us the ability to remember or to forget?

Scientists have been researching these questions for years and they are beginning to get closer and closer to an answer. We now know that the hippocampus is essential in creating new memories and that memories are stored in a region of the cortex.

But what is the actual definition of a memory?
According to the magazine, a memory is a stored pattern of connections formed by the Brain's neurons, or nerve cells.
Dictionary.com says its the mental capacity or faculty of retaining and reviving facts, events, impressions, etc., or of recalling or recognizing previous experiences.

Although those definitions are interesting, I think that a memory can only be defined by the individual. How do you think AJ or EP would define it?
AJ states that "My memory flows like a movie" which might be true to her. I know for sure my memory is less fluid and more bumpy with patches of events I do not recall at all.
EP might have a different definition. One person explains that "He sees, but he doesn't record".
How would you describe your memory? A cohesive conversation or an awkward moment?

Religion

After our class discussion about the new law regarding a mandatory moment of silence, I began to think about other ways religion was publicly endorsed. One of the first things that popped into my mind as the popular show "Veggies Tales". Basically, the show is about these talking vegetables that go on all sorts of fun adventures. It used to be a favorite of my neighbor and we would constantly watch it at her house. Now, I'm not that religious so being so young, I didn't really know anything about the bible. However, now that I've expanded my knowledge about other religions, I've come to realize that every single episode was a Bible story. It completely hit me. Parents encourage their children to watch shows like "Veggie Tales" so that they are silently endorsing a certain religion. It made me think about our moment of silence because, like "Veggie Tales", religion is being endorsed publicly and the main target is the young generation. In my opinion, that's a little scary.

Columbus Who?

Today is Columbus Day and even though we don't have school, it doesn't really feel like a holiday. Why exactly are we celebrating? Is this the day when he stepped on "American" soil for the first time? Or is today the day he set off to search for the New World? Who is Christopher Columbus anyway? Sure we know that he "discovered" America in 1492 and that he is considered a hero in many beginning level history classes. But in reality, there are lots of different sides to him. Some say that he was brutal to Native Americans while others hail him for his bravery. Why are we celebarting a man whom we really not know a lot about. I bet that a majority of the people only know the fact that "In 1492 Columbus sailed the ocean blue" and based on that little sentence they percieve him as a hero. But really, who is this man and why are we taking a day off to recognize him?