What sets Vinyl apart? (cont.)

https://sites.google.com/site/jsalsburey/macintoshsemiotics

This post is going to explain the differences between digital music files and vinyl records.

Digital music excels in one category, ease of use. No question about it. Music on your phone can be paused, rewound, shared, streamed, anything. In fact on your phone you have access to almost any piece of music ever recorded. It really is an amazing thing. However, everything comes at a cost, and with such a great gain, there is a great cost.

Quality. Simple as that. you cant compress music that once took up two full sides of a 12 inch disk into a microscopic space without losing some sound quality. That's obvious. The only question is how much do you lose? 

Quite a lot. Thanks to something called The Loudness War. It's not something that most people will complain about aside from certain audiophiles. And you lose it in two ways; dynamic range, and loudness. Dynamic range is the difference in volume between the softest note and the loudest. Loudness is, well, loudness.

Caity Tirakian Blog Post #3 "Helicopter Crash"

PP#3 Caity Tirakian Period-1 

Title: Helicopter Crash 

Image source: www.lmhcmy.com 

It may seem as though making things easier for your child or choosing their decisions may be helpful for them, but in fact, these actions lead to more negative implications for both the parent and the child outweigh the good ones.  The first implication is that kids with parents who try to live through them vicariously are losing their self-esteems because of the pressures of perfection.  Not only do kids have the pressure to be perfect, but they have the pressure that if they do succeed the parent will become jealous of the child’s success. According to “A Matter of Personality” written by David M. Allen “If the child succeeds in getting through medical school, the mother may become depressed… In response, the “successful” children may then get depressed themselves.”  There’s no way to win. Children think that no matter what parents won’t be satisfied. Kids already have the pressure to be perfect from the pressures of society, coaches, or other peers meaning that losing can “feel like a double-failure to the child,” when they have parent who is applying this same intense stress on them. Regardless of parenting style, most parents want the best for their children. Yet, these “helicopter parents” take it to the extreme; they don’t want their children to face any hardships so they take matters into their own hands. Children with these types of parents aren’t being given the space to struggle on their own which means they lack the development of problem solving skills and independence.  

Further research question: How can helicopter parenting be prevented or stopped? 

Proficiency In Illiteracy

Reading music can be very difficult and of course it varies from person to person to how proficiently they can play or how fast they can get it.  If you want to be proficient in reading music you need to be able to spend a lot of time on music.  Think about this: students that enroll in the band program here at the high school are usually ones that have been in band for their whole school career.  Once they get to high school they really start to get into it.  They can read music but not like a master yet.  They can probably read a music sheet but can’t go in deeper and explain the sheet or be able to go through the piece without a simple mistake.  They have already gone through most likely 6+ years.  Imagine how long it would take you to read music on your own without the help of musically adept from an institution.  Not a whole lot of people have that time.  

When I went through a search on google to find out how long it would take for someone to be able to learn a music piece proficiently when they haven’t taken music lessons, the typical answer of a decent song was around 1 year.  That’s one year to learn one song.  When I learn a song proficiently, it doesn’t take me more than an hour.  There are other and more efficient ways to learning songs musically.

How Does Sleep Deprivation Affect Productivity?

Sleep deprivation is an issue even for career professionals, and besides students they are the second largest demographic suffering from it. It affects everyone from athletes on the field to those who sit in office chairs for hours a day. 
On the athletic side, athletes often suffer from sleep deprivation due to demanding practice schedules, and frequent traveling. It can be difficult for professional athletes to find time to get adequate sleep, and the consequences on the field are myriad. Sleep deprivation can cause impaired motor skills, slowed reaction speed, and increased stress levels. Sleep deprivation also amplifies the effects of any physical exhaustion they’re already feeling, causing them to tire out far quicker.
Office workers suffer from similar symptoms too, and tend to fall asleep more often at work or, at the very least, lose focus easier. Due to this reduced productivity, sleep deprivation in the workplace results in a loss of roughly 11.3 days of work a year on average. This is a huge loss in productivity, and has consequences not only for the worker but also for the company which employs them. A main cause of this sleep deprivation in the office environment is the increasing connectedness of workers, who are often disturbed late at night or early in the morning by calls. This leads to reduced in-office productivity, which in turn leads to more out-of-office calls, thus perpetuating the cycle of sleep deprivation in the workplace.

13 things that the government should not withhold from the public.

http://www.thelastgreatstand.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/Full-Disclosure-1024x754.jpg

13 things that the government should not withhold from the public.

http://www.counterpunch.org/2013/08/23/13-things-the-government-is-trying-to-keep-secret-from-you/

According to Bill Quigley quoting US Senator Ron Wyden and Mark Udall on counterpunch.com, there is a significant gap between what most Americans think that the law allows and what the government secretly claims that they allow. I always fail to understand why the government tends to be so mysterious about certain files or laws that they feel are sensitive to the minds of the general public. If there is in fact information and/or laws that the federal officials believe should not be leaked to the public, then I feel that they should give specific reasons why instead of leaving us in the dark. Furthermore making us wonder why they won't tell us.

Apparently, many heading government positions including the department of justice and the head of the NSA are “keeping massive amounts of information about the surveillance of the US and other people secret from voters,” says Bill. This troubles me, as means that officials of the federal government are allegedly trying to mislead the public from the truth. I’d like to know truly why they feel that this is necessary for the safety of our country. Is there really such information that is so sensitive that it would likely compromise the stability of our countries and its’ citizens.

Bill later states on behalf of the New York Times that “the NSA secretly collects virtually all international email and text communications which cross the US borders in or not.” This is without a doubt wrong for any overarching government and/or agency to have access to basically all of its’ nations information that they assume is only visible to them and their desired contacts. Any way that a government agency can breach information that the owner does not want them seeing is a false representation of their “good” morals if they do in fact say that their nation is secure.        

http://1.mshcdn.com

Throughout the history, we, human beings have done many amazing things. I believe that every person would agree that those space discoveries were one of the most important and unbelievable for the humanity. There are too many of them but i will try to pick 5 of them, that are really interesting to write about.

Until 2005 a large number of scientists agree that, there are 9 planets in our solar system. With the discovery of a new planet called Eris, which was bigger than Pluto for 27 percent, everything has changed. Both planets, Pluto and Eris were now classified as dwarf planets. This caused losing of one planet in solar system. Since 2005, we’ve been having 8 planets.

There is another type of planet that we don’t know pretty much about them. These planets are called Exoplanets. Exoplanets are planets that orbit in a different solar system than where we are now.Earlier in 2015 scientists discovered the exoplanet called Kepler-452b. Because of its similarities with the earth, scientists called this planet Earth’s cousin.

Since humans have been discovering our solar system and all space bodies, the ones that are most unknown to us are black holes. The reason why we are not so familiar with them is because, it was really hard for scientists to develop further researching on them without. After launching super strong Hubble telescope into space, which was designed to send clearest pictures back to the earth, scientists were finally able to give us more information about black holes. Black holes are believed to be dying stars that collapse inward from their own weight. Their gravity force is so strong that even light can’t escape. That’s why they are black.

Since Mars is one of the closest space body around us, we have spent a lot of time doing researches on it. The one that was most important for us was exploring Mars for the first time when we got pictures in color of Mars. It was also an experiment to go and check if the life would be possible on Mars. Later, we continued with researching this planet and another amazing discovery has happened. Scientists claim that they discovered there is liquid water on that planet. This proves that life could exist somewhere far away from us.

The last one that happened recently was, the first landing on a comet in 2014. This one was important because it finally allowed scientists to study the material that make up a comet for the first time. I think that it would be really an amazing thing if one day we would find some other living species far away from our home. It would be unbelievable to share our history with some species that we didn’t even know exists.

FUTURE RESEARCH QUESTION: The moon..

Dick Vitale on Athletes and Bad Decisions

 

http://cdn.thedailybeast.com/content/dailybeast/articles/2011/08/19/georgetown-china-basketball-fight-the-chinese-blogosphere-reacts-to-the-brawl/jcr:content/image.img.2000.jpg/1313786570074.cached.jpg

If you have watched a college basketball game before you have probably heard Dick Vitale announcing the play-by-play action.  You probably also saw a young kid make a stupid decision on the court that led to a technical foul because he got into a fight with another player.  Again, why are these young athletes making bad decisions? Dick Vitale seems to believe that these poor decisions are due to a lack of experience, being flat out stupid, and believing that he/she is above the law because they are an athlete.  In his article titled, “Young Athletes Making Poor Decisions” Dick Vitale states ““ When you have talent, you get chance after chance. I wish that some of these kids would realize what they are doing, how they are hurting their families, coaches and friends. It is immaturity and I don't want to hear that kids will be kids. There are plenty of 18 and 19-year-olds who are mature enough to go out and fight for our country. They are old enough to know right from wrong.” Athletes who repeatedly make poor decisions over and over again clearly don’t understand the fundamentals between right and wrong.  As Vitale stated, many young adults who are the same age as these men and women are able to make good decisions, so why do we see so many athletes on the news making bad decisions.  The athletes who are talented enough to make mistakes over and over and get bailed out because of their ability to play a sport are in jeopardy, because once they grow old, there won’t be anyone who can bail them out of jail.

When I watch the Duke basketball team play this year I always see Grayson Allen doing something shady on the court.  A couple of game ago he blatantly tripped an opposing player and was not called for a technical foul.  Then in a few games after that, he did the same exact thing and still didn’t get called for a foul.  Why is this talented kid going out and tripping opposing players?  I believe he is doing it now because he feels like he can do it without facing the consequences, and he should feel that way because the referees bailed him out of two technicals.  God forbid Duke, who some think is having an off year, play without one of their best players for one game.  Dick Vitale states in his article, “Others are caught up in their little world where they think they can get away with anything. We see some of this on a professional level, a la Braylon Edwards and his DWI. He was allowed to go back on the field because he is talented. If he was a borderline player, he would have been gone.” He states that people like Braylon Edwards can get away with doing bad things on and off the field, just like Graycen Allen.  If these players believe they can get away with anything they will keep on testing their limits until that limit is reached.  Unfortunately, many professional athletes make bad decisions thinking their athletic ability will bail them out if they get caught.

Athletes thinking they are above the law and also not knowing the fundamentals between right and wrong make very bad decisions.  Many professional and even collegiate athletes are not educated well, which may result in making bad decisions. Athletes who think they can do whatever they want because of their ability to play on the field, are bailed out everyday by referees, coaches, and the associations or leagues they play in.

Athletes thinking they are above the law and also not knowing the fundamentals between right and wrong make very bad decisions.  Many professional and even collegiate athletes are not educated well, which may result in making bad decisions. Athletes who think they can do whatever they want because of their ability to play on the field, are bailed out everyday by referees, coaches, and the associations or leagues they play in.

How owning a horse can help children

http://farm4.static.flickr.com
Every little girl’s dream is to have a pony right? at least that’s what i wanted when i was little and i know a few other who did as well. The answer to the typical “daddy can i have a pony?” question is usually no you can not get a pony, well if you think about it and put it in perspective getting your child a pony when they are young helps with many things. instead of paying for sports or other activities just to find out that your child does not like them or is just not interested is very costly and can weigh down the pocket book. i’m not saying owning a horse can’t do that, which in reality it does do that but it’s better than paying for the clubs and whatnot especially since it teaches the child responsibility and how to be selfless. As the child gets older they want to be with friends and party and have fun possibly getting themselves into trouble “You have to give up a lot of your social life. You can’t go out and party if you have a 6 a.m. horse show.”  well, with a horse you have to care for it on a daily basis you can leave a few things for the barn to do like feed and whatnot but it does need exercise and you are the one providing that for them; especially if you do competitions with your horse you may have a show to go to the next morning so partying is not an option for you.

What/who is deforestation affecting?

Source: http://static1.squarespace.com

When people hear about deforestation, their first thought is usually "Those poor animals, they're losing their homes! How sad." However, they don't usually stop to ask about how deforestation is affecting them. Most people do not stop to ask because they know it's far away from where they live so there can't be any way it affects them, right? Wrong! Deforestation affects everyone all over the world! Cutting down trees is not only taking away the homes for thousands of animals, it could potentially take away our homes in the future.

So many innocent animals call the rainforest floor their home. There are also thousands of animals that live up in the trees, too. If people cut down their homes, they will have nowhere to go and will die and their species will eventually go extinct. When tree companies cut down thousands of trees today, there is a huge impact on the ecosystem. “The most dramatic impact is a loss of habitat for millions of species” says National Geographic. “70% of Earth’s land animals live in forests, and many cannot survive the deforestation that destroys their homes...Removing trees deprives the forest of portions of its canopy, which blocks the sun’s rays during the day and holds in heat at night. This disruption leads to more extreme temperatures swings that can be harmful to plants and animals.” As we cut down trees for our benefit, and homes, we are ripping away millions of animal’s homes away from them every single day.

However, deforestation also affects us, here, close to home. According to National Geographic, “deforestation also drives climate change. Forest soils are moist, but without protection from sun-blocking tree cover they quickly dry out.” Cutting down trees is affecting the climate, making for warmer and warmer seasons every year. The article also stated, “trees also help perpetuate the water cycle by returning water vapor back into the atmosphere. Without trees to fill these roles, many former forest lands can quickly become barren deserts.” Without the trees there, we are ruining the forest and our Earth. “Trees play a critical role in absorbing the greenhouse gases that fuel global warming. Fewer forests means larger amounts of greenhouse gases entering the atmosphere—and increased speed and severity of global warming.” As we continue to cut down rainforest after rainforest, keep this in mind; you are ruining their world, and you are ruining yours too.

My next research question: How expensive does it cost in total to cut down trees in tropical rainforests?

What You Wear Affects Your Workout

Source: media.fashiongroup.com

Do you feel more productive on the days where you dress up nicer for school? If so, you are likely to experience a similar occurrence when you wear workout clothes during the day, but the result of wearing the workout clothes is an increased likelihood that you will workout. Author Jamie Wiebe wrote the article Psychology of Lululemon: How Fashion Affects Fitness in 2013 for The Atlantic, a well-known magazine covering a variety of topics. The author’s main argument is that what you wear affects how you think and what you do, so wearing (Lululemon) workout clothes will improve the chances that you work out on a day where you wear workout clothes all day.

Researchers use “Enclothed Cognition” to describe the mental changes people undergo when they wear a certain type of clothing. The author believes that “ the symbolic meaning that you associate with a particular item of clothing” will drive your behavior. It is almost a mind game. If you wear workout clothes during the day, then you will think more about working out, ultimately improving the chances that you will work out that day. I agree with the author that “your clothes represent your inner motivation and feelings” because when I wear a dress to school, I feel more awake and attentive. And when I wear leggings and an athletic shirt to school, I workout after school, so what I wear to school gives my classmates a pretty good idea of the intentions I have for that day.

It is quite evident that more people are starting to wear workout clothes for everyday activities. Workout clothes are not only worn for working out, but for everyday wear! In fact, “the activewear market grew 7 percent over the past year. In the same time, the general apparel market grew only 1 percent.” Now that workout clothes are becoming a fashion statement, more people are buying workout clothes because they are popular, not for the sole purpose of working out. But people have been buying new workout clothes as an incentive to work out. For example, Lululemon markets their athletic wear as either everyday clothing or active wear to reach a larger target market. Lululemon promotes working out by offering “clothing that bridges the divide between activewear and streetwear means you’ll wear it more often—and by doing so, you might feel like going to the gym a little bit more often.” People buying these clothes, mostly women, feel more motivated to workout since they wear fashionable workout clothes throughout the day. 

Although workout clothes are great to buy because they are very versatile nowadays, for “people who get a totally new wardrobe—that’s never a really good sign. Too much, too fast to accommodate your routine and lifestyle.” The effect does not work the same way that it does for people who buy a lot of workout clothes hoping that those new clothes will give them the inspiration they need to workout. Having the workout clothes in your closet will not automatically make you a regular at a gym. But buying new workout clothes after you meet certain fitness goals is a great incentive to keep you on track with your motivation to continue working out. If you already have a steady workout plan, then wearing the workout clothes throughout the day, will help put you in the mindset to workout, as supported by the Enclothed Cognition theory. So, the next time you are deciding on what to wear for the day, think about your intentions for the day and how your outfit can visually express your motives.

Future Research:

• Is it better to workout alone or in a group of people?

Factors Influencing The Success of Independent Restaurants

Source: http://yourbusiness.azcentral.com

“Having a great menu and a big marketing budget might help you attract customers to your restaurant, but it might not be enough to keep your doors open,” Sam Ashe-Edmunds. In order to maintain profitability and achieve overall success with an independent restaurant, there are many more significant factors that outweigh a great menu and a big marketing budget. Furthermore, in this article titled Key Success Factors For Restaurants from yourbusiness.azcentral.com, Ashe-Edmunds argues that managing your costs, developing a marketing strategy, meeting legal obligations, maintaining sufficient cash flow, and developing a unique brand are all the essential factors to restaurant success. Edmund and the source he has provided us with have proven credibility as the author has a great deal of experience and background in writing and lecturing. He is an internationally traveled sport science writer and lecturer. He is sure to be an expert in such business related topics as he has extensive experience and background on these topics.

It is essential that restaurant owners establish their costs and overhead and create a plan for setting prices that include a profit for the business. Edmund makes a good point when he deliberately states, “It doesn’t matter if your tables are full every breakfast, lunch and dinner if you sell meals for $10 and they cost you $11 to serve.”Here, Edmund is arguing that there is no sense in creating great dishes in the restaurant business if you are going to end up losing money in the end. The author moves forward in advocating the importance of marketing in starting up and maintaining a restaurant. Edmund makes a strong point in noting that, “Don’t rely on word-of-mouth or paid advertising to get customers to your door. Many non-chain restaurants depend on a low-cost mix of ads, promotions, sales, coupons, social media and public relations to keep customers coming.” It s essential here to notice that restaurants cannot rely on the most common forms of marketing, yet they need to branch out and do everything possible to get the word out about their business.

Finally, the author moves forward to address his last three main points about success factors for restaurants. Edmund works to emphasize the fact that creating a unique brand for a restaurant is essential in getting the name out there and maintaining a name for itself. Edmund puts forth great emphasis on the fact that, “It’s imperative that you give people a specific reason to come to your restaurant and that you communicate that unique benefit. Don’t try to be everything to everyone or you might end up being nothing to no one.” In this case, Edmund is showing how restaurant owners must develop a name for themselves by providing that unique service or meal that no other restaurant provides and will make the customers want to come back and start talking. Next, the author expresses the importance of managing your legal obligations as a restaurant owner. Edmund warns, “If you feel a call to the health department will bring unwanted scrutiny, you might be hiding something that can eventually shut you down.” If this is the case, you are basically setting yourself up for failure for no reason as you could easily figure out what needs to be done in order to meet code or inspection. Lastly, Edmund argues that restaurant owners must establish a solid cash flow in order to achieve success in this demanding business. Edmund notes, “You will have bills you need to pay before you sell your meals, and maintaining proper cash flow will help you stay open.” Here, it is important to understand that there will be many expenses for the owner and it is essential that he or she establishes a substantial cash flow with a bank in order to assure bills will be paid on time and the restaurant doors will stay open.

Future Research Question: How does location and demographics play a part in the overall success of a restaurant?

How failure early can help you in the business world?

Source: http://www.growthbusiness.com

Failure is something that people experience throughout life. They experience in both their professional and social life. Some people fail all the time and some fail sometimes. But, what if I said that people who fail the most will have the most success. Kids with learning disabilities are put at a disadvantage in school which often leads them to fail. The most successful dyslexics say that their failure in school led them to future accomplishments because their failures led them to develop specific study skills and inspired to not give up.

Most modern schools are not designed for kids with dyslexia, ADD, and ADHD to pass. Schools are taught to teach a certain way and if you don't fit into this “box” then you are put at a disadvantage. Children who have a learning disability are forced to take failure head on and they have to adapt their studying skills to fit the way they learn. Both of these skills are skills that every entrepreneur needs to be successful. James LeVory Sorenson, health care and real estate entrepreneur that is dyslexia, said, "I like to add one word to the end of many sentences: 'yet.' Instead of saying, 'I can't do it,' I say, 'I can't do it—yet’”. Dyslexics learn to persevere through tough times and they teach themselves that failure is just a learning experience. People with learning disabilities are not stupid, they just learn differently, and different isn’t always bad.

Learning to fail early in life will help you in your business career. Myself being dyslexic I have learned to take failure as a way to learn not to do something. There have been tests that I have studied hours for and have failed. But, I learned something very important from Paul Orfalea, founder of Kinko’s and dyslexic, stated in an interview, “ The A students work for the B’s, the C’s run the companies, and the D students dedicate the buildings”. Many dyslexic entrepreneurs are high school or college dropouts. Most dropped out because they had an idea that people told them was stupid and will never work and because they believed in themselves and weren't afraid to fail. Dyslexics are told their whole life they are stupid and they will never do anything with their lives. But, after being told that so many times you learn to tune people out and believe in yourself because they are the one’s that often have the last laugh. 

Next week I will be discussing how different coping/social strategies in school can help with future success.

Worst Possible Outcome for Concussions over a Period of Time

http://concussionfoundation.org

The Mchale’s are family friends of my family and have gone through one of the hardest situations a person can go through a family member's death.  In 2008 Tom Mchale passed away leaving the family fatherless and for Lisa Mchale to handle three boys on her own.  Tom was in the NFL for about 9 years and loved every second of it.  When Tom was proclaimed dead it was because of accidental drug overdose, but when doctors later researched it was because of CTE. (chronic traumatic encephalopathy)  Lisa Mchale does a interview with FRONTLINE’s Jim Gilmore and talks about what happened to her husband and what is happening to these NFL players who are taking all these hits in the long term. This article shows Lisa’s first hand experience with what happened to her husband and what is happening to these professional players.

Lisa Mchale is now looking into the CTE disease and has come out and talked about what happened to her husband. That because of football and all of the injuries that the players receive throughout their career to there heads that her husband is dead.  She exclaimed that “I think that's the gist of all of this for me, is that concussions were happening all the time. And I have to assume he had no idea that there was any reason that he should be concerned or that what he was actually experiencing was a concussion.”(Mchale)  The professional players in the NFL hit hard and after a long period of time there brains become damaged.  The NFL is becoming more aware of these concussions but that doesn't mean that they aren't pushing their players to come back to play sooner than they are ready to.  Overall something needs to change within the NFL and other contact sports in order for these players to be safe in the long run.

Tom Mchale brain was examined after he died to see if they could link professional football with his death.  What they found in his brain is surprising and horrifying to the NFL and family, Lisa says that “even so, he had a Stage 3 disease; Stage 4 is full-blown dementia. He was really advanced. So he was compensating probably pretty well for his level of disease.” (Mchale)  A healthy brain has a nice light blue color as Tom's brain had brown almost covering the whole brain.  This means that his brain was slowly dying and that all those concussions were seriously impacting his brain over time.  Overall by seeing what happened in Tom Mchale’s head researchers were able to show what is happening in brains of these athletes.  Concussions are happening all throughout sports all the time and if they keep recurring then we could see a deadly future for athletes with numerous concussions.

Future Research Question: Are pads used in contact sports reliable for the players to use and do they help protect against concussions?

Photoshopping Models: Dangerous or Artistic?

When Kate Winslet saw her photo on the cover of GQ, she got very upset. What she was was her face with a body that wasn’t her own. Her waist, legs, and other body parts were photoshopped to appear much slimmer than they actually were. After this incident, she was one of the first people to publically denounce the altering of women’s bodies in photos. Some people believe that this kind of photoshopping is detrimental to young girls, who can adopt unrealistic expectations of what a woman’s body should look like while others believe it is part of the artistic domain. Vivian Dillard discusses the potential for negative body images in the younger generation in “The Culture of Beauty,” written in 2013 when the movement against photoshopping was beginning.

Source: http://www.messynessychic.com

Recently, the American Medical Association (AMA) has taken the stand against the unrealistic beauty standards that the media is presenting. They believe that this idea of “body manipulation” can cause eating disorders and emotional problems.Countries such as France have already taken steps towards clearly defining the line between fiction and reality. They are required to label if their models have been photoshopped with the goal of ‘advising the public on whether what they are seeing is real or not.’ The U.S. Federal Trade Commission has had the goal of preventing false advertising since 1914, yet they still haven’t taken any steps similar to France towards preventing altered photos from being mistaken as reality. It seems strange to me that models can and want to manipulate their bodies in that way, but there are many people who don’t see an issue with photoshop.

Eating disorder specialist Carrie Arnold was skeptical about the AMA’s claims that photoshopped imaged caused eating disorders. She thought there was very little evidence to prove such a claim, commenting that ‘We don't think ads for disinfectant somehow promote OCD. We also don't think that those Bluetooth headsets promote schizophrenia because it looks like you're talking to yourself.’  Many photographers and artists are against the negativity surrounding photoshop because they see it as artistic liberty to alter photographs. Their original purpose, they claim, was just to highlight the features of the women. Others even claim that this focus on eliminating photoshop will make the situation worse as celebrities will go to extensive lengths, by using diets and plastic surgery, to appear the way they want if they cannot use photoshop.

Whether or not photoshopping models is a direct cause of eating disorders and negative self image is unclear. However, this does reflect the larger topic at hand, which is the near impossible beauty standards that America has developed. Companies advertising products such as clothes edit their models to fit beauty standards with the goal of selling more products. When a consumer sees impossibly beautiful women eating certain foods, wearing certain clothes, and supporting certain ideals, they want do what she does because she is the epitome of their ideal self.

Future Research: What countries have implemented laws to address the photoshopping issue? How do beauty standards based on the country?

Unfair Decisions or Learning Enhancers?

http://www.nysut.org

Colleges talk a lot about diversity in their university. Sometimes, though, it is unclear why they look for other races and ethnicities over White Americans. So why do they want the diversity? According to Jeremy Hyman from U.S News, diversity is used for improving students' learning in the University and preparing them for a diverse workforce.

“Diversity expands worldliness. College might be the first time you have had the opportunity to have real interaction with people from diverse groups” (Hyman) With diversity, there will be more ethnicities that you can socialize with and learn about. This is one of the reasons why colleges will select the ethnic enriched student over the White American student, because they want their students to expand their minds to more parts of the world. Another reason Hyman explains is, “Diversity prepares students for work in a global society. No matter what profession you enter, you'll find yourself working with employers, employees, coworkers, customers and clients from diverse backgrounds—worldwide.” In any job you have you will have to interact with different types of people and colleges want to socially prepare their students before they enter the workforce.

Although diversity is good for the students that are at the University, are there other motivations behind the mix of students? Colleges say that diversity is very good for education but it could be for their benefit instead. The Universities want to appeal to many more students so having the diversity invites a mix of students to their school. This will make the college look better. This will most definitely play into the college selection process as well, for the college and student. Colleges want diversity and sometimes so do the students. So ultimately it benefits both sides, but is it unfair to the White Americans? I guess it just depends on the student.

Future Research Topic: How does Economics Play into College Selection? and is it Fair?

The Psychology Behind Sex Trafficking

http://www.freedomcongress.org/

Not only is there an economy for sex trade, but also the reason why sex trafficking continues to go on is because of the Psychology behind it. I became interested in this topic during my Psychology class first semester when my teacher explained to us that there is a relationship between economics and psychology when it comes to sex trade. In this blog post, I argue that the psychology behind the sex trade makes people feel trapped and therefore the trade is only growing.

According to Jonathan Van Dyke in a recent article called, “Psychological Warfare Propels Human Sex Trafficking World,” Dyke argues that  “The brainwashing that has been done is unbelievable — this psychological warfare the pimps have done with these girls.” The brainwashing is done by the pimps and Dyke describes that there are two different types of pimps. The Gorilla pimps demand a certain amount of money, and if the prostitute does not make the quota, she will most likely be beaten and held from basic amenities such as food and clothing. So therefore, they will do everything they can in order to meet their quota so they are not beaten and without basic needs. These threats that the pimps make make the girls feel trapped because they know if they try to escape, they will be severely beaten, or worse. The other type of pimp that Dyke describes is the Romeo pimps. These pimps will treat the prostitute more like a girlfriend upfront and the relationship often will start like boyfriend and girlfriend, before turning intense and violent. There is even a honeymoon period where the pimp will buy the young victim dinner, clothes, cellphones and jewelry (Dyke). These Romeo pimps give a false love to these girls and because of that, their brain tells them that they will be able to work things out when the relationship gets messy. It’s human nature and behavior to desire to be wanted or loved and once these girls feel this from these pimps, they have a hard time escaping when things get abusive because they keep telling themselves that the relationship will get back to what it was at the beginning. Denial, is a defense mechanism and most of these girls involved with Romeo pimps deny that there is a problem.

In another article in “Psychology Today” by Dale Archer, it shows examples of three girls who were brain-washed into the sex trade.Kara Nichols, Kayla Croft-Payne, and Raven Cassidy Furlong, all had certain things in common. According to Archer, “All three have one thing in common: They were young, pretty, in contact with men online and were tempted with modeling work. This is a classic case here in the US. Young women are targeted because of their vulnerability. Jobs like modeling, dancing, or being a nanny for a wealthy family are dangled. They are promised exciting work with good pay, and a meeting is set up where they are abducted and transported- typically to a large city where no one knows them. They are addicted to drugs and then forced into prostitution, with abhorrent living conditions and frequent beatings.” As you can see, these pimps know how to control the psychology behind these women and lure them in by promising well-paying jobs. Not only is sex trade flourishing because of the economics behind it, but also because of the psychological brainwashing tactics the pimps use on their victims. 

Future Research: In my next blog post I plan to research the factors for the supply of prostitution and sex trafficking.

NASA and its Work

http://3dprint.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/m3.jpg

               By writing this blog I am trying to answer one question, "Is space travel worth it?". There is a large debate on this issue with good points on both sides. Last week I took a look at both of those arguments, the pros and cons of space travel. However, this week I am focusing more on the pros of space travel, specifically a viewpoint from NASA. I understand this source may be biased, but throughout this blog I will be examining a number of different sources that may all have a bias one way or another. Anyways, on the NASA website they have a page dedicated to explaining to viewers "Why we Explore". The article specifically talks about what we are exploring right now, such as mars, asteroids, and pluto, and what we as a species gain from it. Now I understand that it may be in NASA's best interest to make us believe what they are doing is important, but considering all they have accomplished in the past decade I think they are reliable. 

              The article specifically touches on why the International Space Station is one of the most valuable things we as humans have. NASA explains that the space station "serves as a national laboratory for human health, biological, and materials research, as a technology test-bed, and as a stepping stone for going further into the solar system". In other words, the station serves as a bridge for us to learn more about living in space as well as revealing challenges we may face in long distance travel. I personally find this an extremely valuable commodity because in the face of extinction the space station may be a reliable outpost. 

            Now unless you have been living under a rock for the past couple of years then you would know that there has been an interest in Mars in the past decade. NASA highlights this in their article saying, "Humans can build upon this knowledge and look for signs of life and investigate Mars' geological evolution, resulting in research and methods that could be applied here on Earth". NASA clearly believes that exploring Mars will give humans a better understanding of how the universe and other worlds work, and then we can apply that knowledge to Earth. It may even tip us off on how to find life. Now I do know that since we have started exploring Mars that we have learned a good bit, but it all seems irrelevant to what NASA says it could be worth. I'm not so sure Mars is doing much for us but I do think it brings hope, and hope is a good thing in an industry full of doubt. 

FUTURE RESEARCH: Next week I plan on looking at the other side of the argument. As I mentioned in my first post, some people believe space travel is not worth its benefits and I would like to take a deeper look into why.