1. Provide a link to the article/broadcast.
2. Summarize the content (2-4 sentences).
3. Comment on what you heard. This can be 100% conversational, just keep in mind your audience and differences in beliefs.
Thursday, October 11, 2012
Let's get informed!
1. Provide a link to the article/broadcast.
2. Summarize the content (2-4 sentences).
3. Comment on what you heard. This can be 100% conversational, just keep in mind your audience and differences in beliefs.
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http://www.npr.org/2012/10/08/162514763/standup-comic-tig-notaro
ReplyDeleteThis article is about a comedian that went on stage the day she was diagnosed with cancer. Just a little bit before that, she had been hospitalized with pneumonia. Then shortly after she was released, her mother passed away in a freak accident.
After reading this, I have a lot of respect for this women and can really relate to what she has been through. Though I have never been diagnosed with cancer, I lost two of the most important people in my life in back to back days. Hearing her story was very inspirational because I can easily relate.
http://www.npr.org/2012/10/10/162663914/with-a-database-germany-tracks-rise-of-neo-nazis
ReplyDeleteThe article I read was titled "With A Database, Germany Tracks Rise Of Neo-Nazis." It was a fairly interesting article about the growing of xenophopia in Germany. There has been recent trouble with murders and violence with Neo-Nazis. German police forces have begun to patrol streets and increase their security. I was extremely facinated by this article because I had no idea that there were still problems such as this that should have ended so many years ago. Problems still exist in Germany that took place during World War II. It is almost depressing that there are still hard feelings, and violence that occurs in Germany. It was interesting to hear this information because there are problems happening across the world that one would never know about in America. I would have never guessed that there were still issues occuring over problems during World War II.
http://www.npr.org/blogs/itsallpolitics/2012/10/11/162707575/wonkfest-or-slugfest-anticipation-mounts-ahead-of-biden-vs-ryan
ReplyDeleteThis article talked about the upcoming debate between Vice President Biden and candidate Ryan. The article claims that the debate will be very watched and interesting because many believe that Ryan will majorly defeat Biden. The article gave quotes from people from botht the deomcratic and republican parties.
I thought the article was very interesting becuase I somewhat enjoy reading about politics. I do not like super in depth reading, but this was fairly light and I enjoyed it. I think the debate will definately be interesting and I will watch it. I think that Ryan will do a very good job becuase Biden tends not to be the best a public speaking, in my opinion. I know that Ryan is highly intelligent, not that Biden is not, but I think it will really help him and shine through. I think if Ryan can successfully pull this debate off, then the republican party has a good chance of winning. However, I know democrats are relying on Biden to pull through becuase of Obama's less than satisfactory attempt at the first Presidential debate.
I read an article that described the comparisons of certain foods and why they seem to go well together. Taste and texture play a vital role in how people perceive flavors. It's why milk and cookies or tea and biscuits are tried-and-true combinations. I fully find this to be true. I love the combination of banana and peanut butter.
ReplyDeleteThe visual appeal of food greatly impacts my liking of it.
http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2012/10/10/162635648/why-foods-go-together-like-rama-lama-lama-ke-ding-a-de-dinga-dong
http://www.npr.org/2012/10/09/162570013/when-prolonging-death-seems-worse-than-death
ReplyDeleteThe article that I read was called "When Prolonging Death Seems Worse Than Death." It was about patients and family's choices about mediciations that would hasten a person's death if they are suffering.
I believe that this article can be taken the wrong way easily. People may think it is a help with attempted suicide, but I do not think that. I believe that if a patient is truly suffereing they should be able to decide if they want a medication to help their death come faster. I think that it is their choice and only their choice, & if they are not able to make the choice on their own, then the immediate family should make the choice for them. I would not want to prolong my death if I was suffering.
I read an article about the Japanese admitting that the nuclear disaster in 2011 was avoidable. The task force at the power plant said that they were simply not prepared for this type of disaster and it would have been preventable if they would have taken the necessary precautions.
ReplyDeleteI found this article to be extremely interesting. I thought it was interesting that right after the nuclear disaster the reps of the power plant said that there was no way that they were responsible for the nuclear disaster but now they are admitting that they could have done some things to prevent it.
http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2012/10/12/162775916/japanese-utility-admits-for-first-time-that-nuclear-disaster-was-avoidable
http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2012/10/11/162733830/the-secret-to-genius-it-might-be-more-chocolate
ReplyDeleteThis article is about the direct corelation between the amount of chocolate consumed by a country to the number of Nobel prizes won by that country. Surprisingly enough, America is not number one in chocolate consumption. Sweden takes the chocolate bunny in that category and the number of Nobel prize winners. Franz Messerli is credited for this obveservation and continued to study this and the facts show that the number of Nobel prize winners had a higher consumption rate of chocolate. The biggest point in this article is that the "p-value", or possibilty that these findings was due to chance, was extremely small (0.0001).
I find this article to be extremely interesting. What really validifies these findings is the extremely low p-value. It makes me wonder if we need to do more of these types of studies. I do know one thing is for sure...my daily dose of chocolate is about to take a turn for the unhealthy.
http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2012/10/11/162732020/panda-cubs-death-due-to-lung-and-liver-damage
ReplyDeleteA giant panda cub born at Washington's National Zoo died when it was about a week old due to undeveloped lungs which led to a lack of oxygen. Apparently the cub's mother, Mei Xiang, was not eating or behaving normally at first but now she is.
1) http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2012/10/12/162740623/gangnam-style-three-reasons-k-pop-is-taking-over-the-world
ReplyDelete2) This article focuses on the three main reasons Korea is quickly rising to the top in pop music. Reason 1, they strated to produce as much music as quickly as they could. Reason 2, they started debuting new songs on television rather than on the radio. Reason 3, because Korea is already on top of the technological world, they in a way perfected YouTube allowing their videos to recieve so many hits.
3) I thought it was really interesting how they really looked into the reasons why this song, and any songs in the near future are so quickly being put on top. Korea took what was becoming popular and producing it so quickly. The fact that they thought it was odd that Korea was on top with their music, was something I obviously overlooked. It was nice to know how they're going about their music.
In this article, the bioethical aspect of DNA testing is revealed. A few bioethic experts offer suggestions to the delima of wether DNA should be as open and widely used as it is.
ReplyDeleteWith all of the discoveries in the world today, scients can basically gather all of one's DNA form an old/used coffee cup. However, it is sometimes strange to think that this is not really under the concent of the person being tested. Now I personally completely agree with using DNA testing to capture crimals and help make the world a better place. I do believe that there is some since of privacy that needs to be in place to ensrue that one's personal information is not being shared with the entire world. I think that this is a very interesint articl because it preposes a few lines for scientiss to make sure they do not cross when looking for informaiton or trying to prove some theory. In a world full of technology and constant networking, it is very imporant to keep some since of privacy.
http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2012/10/11/162704092/bioethicists-call-for-privacy-protections-for-personal-genomes
1. http://www.npr.org/2012/10/10/161901207/skinny-starts-a-conversation-for-overweight-teens
ReplyDelete2. The article I chose to read was about a book written about a young girl struggling with her weight and self-esteem. She eventually decides to get a weight loss surgery. This may help get rid of a few problems, but it only creates more struggles for the young girl.
3. I do not think that this book is a very good message to be sending to young girls, or anyone for that matter. Every single young teenager girl faces problems with their body image, weather is is self-inflicted or not. When young girls read the story about Ever they with think that it is acceptable to get surgeries such as these at a young age. There should be better messages being sent to girls struggling with weight and body image. It was interesting to see how the author went through the same struggles as Ever, but she disagrees with how early Ever decided to have surgery. Decisions such as these cannot be taken lightly and the article makes is seem like Ever made this decisions so easily and quickly. Everyone was made the way they are for a reason. I think the book should be giving people ways to see themselves for how they are on the inside and show that it matter more than what is on the outside. We have to be careful with what we put out their for teenagers to view, because teenagers make very irrational decisions.
http://www.npr.org/2012/10/10/161901207/skinny-starts-a-conversation-for-overweight-teens
ReplyDeleteThe article i chose to read was that of a book called "Skinny" by Donna Cooper. Based on a true story related to the author, the novel follows a high school girl, Ever Williams, facing her struggles with weight, and how she decides to cope with it. After a lifetime of being snobby comments and her insecurities constantly overpowering her thoughts, Ever quickly decides to get weight loss surgery without the support from friends or family.
Overall, my thoughts about this article were very intriguing and relatable. I could understand where the author is coming from after seeing many of my friends and even myself struggle with insecurities about our bodies. Even though wanting to fix these problems is quick and easy with surgery, the long term outcomes can be very dangerous, both physically and emotionally. I would never recommend surgery to anyone with issues about their bodies because there is always an alternative. Fixing these insecurities on the outside cannot always fix them on the inside. I do believe it is very important to spread the message conveyed in "Skinny" to the younger generation. Teenagers often are ignorant and "dumb" when it comes to thinking about the long term outcomes from quick solutions.
http://www.npr.org/2012/10/12/162799783/russia-no-longer-wants-u-s-aid-to-secure-nukes
ReplyDeleteThe article that I chose to read was about Russia saying that they no longer wanted American aid in securing old nuclear weapons. According to the article, since the fall of the old Soviet Union, the United States has been helping Russia in securing all of the old nuclear weapons that were unaccounted for. Since the beginning of the program, the U.S. has dismantled 7,500 nuclear warheads and 900 intercontinental ballistic missles. However, U.S. officials say that there is still more work that needs to be done, and that it would be impossible if Russia decided to end the aid program.
This article made me wonder how many unclaimed nuclear weapons there really are in the world, just from the Russians alone. It kind of made me hope that the U.S. and Russia would re-establish the aid program, so that the unclaimed weapons could continue to be dismantled. However, the cost of the program was also revealed in the article: 500 million dollars a year. If the aid program were to end, then the U.S., which was paying for the majority of the aid program, would have an additional 500 million dollars a year to put where it needed to go, which couldnt hurt.
http://www.npr.org/2012/09/27/161811822/poverty-informs-j-k-rowlings-new-novel-for-adults
ReplyDeleteThis interview with J.K. Rowling is about her new book, The Causal Vacancy, and her thoughts on it. She mostly speaks of what influenced the book and her personal opinions. I was quite intrigued with this interview because I have never before been interested in the opinions of authors about their own books. I like J.K. Rowling even more now because she writes for a purpose, not just for money. I loved her because of Harry Potter. Now that has increased because I know more of her history and her reasoning in writing.
A baby panda died in Washington's National zoo. It was a week old and died due to insufficient oxygen. It's lung didn't develop properly and that lead health problems. It's sad that she died, but I don't know if this is exactly newsworthy. I feel like the population has more sympathy towards animals than people. Lots of people die everyday, but not all get news articles.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2012/10/11/162732020/panda-cubs-death-due-to-lung-and-liver-damage
ReplyDeletehttp://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2012/10/12/162796828/remember-the-14-year-old-who-bought-a-house-she-just-bought-another-one
ReplyDeletehttp://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2012/03/09/148218539/this-14-year-old-girl-just-bought-a-house-in-florida
I read both of these articles about a fourteen year-old girl who purchased a house with money she made from selling unwanted furniture on Craigslist. She then charged rent for the house and made enough money to buy another one.
I found it amazing how a young teenager worked hard enough to make enough money to buy a house. I was even more amazed when I found out she made enough money to buy a second house! The first article made me happy that a teenaged girl was so ambitious and working hard, but the second article saddened me when the girl that originally didn't have any friends had completely changed. In the second article she was talking about a reality show and how she now has a bunch of friends. The girl that I read about in the second article seemed so changed from the first and it was kind of heartbreaking. Overall though, I think the fourteen year-old girl has made a great accomplishment.
http://www.npr.org/2012/10/15/162909960/head-injuries-rattle-even-devout-football-parents
ReplyDeleteThis article was about the concern about football players, especially pee wee players. There is a rising concern for injury in the game of football, mostly concussions or brain related injuries. The article specifically talks to parents of players in Texas where football is viewed as a religion almost. Many parents express their concern by possibly ending football for their kids.
I believe that is nothing new coming out here. I believe all these injuries have happened as long as football has existed. The only difference is that players are getting bigger, stronger, and pretty much more athletic. The hustle is more intense. Now obviously the equipment and safety may be improving but so is the level of the game. The players are becoming much better. Now if it were me, I maybe would not let my kid play because it has been shown after many tests, that football related injuries could lead to possible brain issues and other medical problems that could be avoided. Some tests has shown that the mental illness could also lead harmful actions like suicide. Either the kid doesn't play or it becomes flag football. It's not worth the risk which weighs heavily more than the slim reward.