Sources 6-10 ~ Tony Shilling

Posted on March 22, 2012 by tonyshilling

6.  U.S. Copyright Office: Fair Use

The article from the Copyright Office of the United States discusses the Fair Use policy, which distinguishes an image or creative property from something similar without it breaking a law.  Under Fair Use, an image can be considered a “parody,” an imitation that is not plagiarism, which allows it to legally exist outside the sue-able realm.

This could be a game-changer for my research, as the extents of Fair Use and Parody laws are potentially the liability for artists who illustrate copyrighted characters.  However, to pose a contrast, even the Office themselves recognize and state that the line between Fair Use and Infringement is “unclear and not easily defined,” and proving it will be rather difficult.

7.   Copyright and Parody: Taking Backward the Gowers Review?

A very key notion revealed itself in the process of writing my Definitional essay in regards to copyright: what are the boundaries of artistic liberty?  Caricature artists do not get sued, sketch comedy programs on television do not get sued, and there should not be a difference here; the idea is that parody categorization prevents legal action.  The issue here is that the IPO (Intellectual Property Office) does not have a specific stated exception for parody as an intellectual property, which Ronan Deazley believes is necessary.

With the parody research, it can be proved that artists are not actually stealing from Marvel by usage of their characters, but are imitating them with no malicious intent.  Saturday Night Live, for instance, is among the skit shows that has been getting away with such concepts for years; they do not pay film companies whose movies they parody, nor can they be sued, and they show still makes a profit.  Proving artists do something similar would be the most important step to sidestep Marvel’s action.

8.  Court Ruling Says Marvel Holds Rights, Not Artist

This New York Times article from last year discusses the conclusion of the Jack Kirby case, in which the estate and children of Jack “The King” Kirby, famed comic artist, sued Marvel over the use and ownership of his characters.

Provides further background and back-up information to show Marvel’s no-nonsense approach to these lawsuits, in addition to the Friedrich case.  While Friedrich’s evolved into a case of Marvel suing him, this in turn deals with the opposite, with Kirby’s heirs reacting to the creation of such films like “Thor” based on his characters.  Interesting to note the “Disney” credits.

9.  Marvel Forces Ghost Rider Creator to Stop Saying he’s Ghost Rider’s Creator

The article address the same issues as many others take with Marvel’s case against Ghost Rider creator Gary Friedrich and copyright issues, but it is cited here for another reason: it provides a key piece of information not noted by the rest, in that Marvel expects Friedrich to not boast that Ghost Rider is his creation, though Marvel recognizes he is (not in print, however), and that he must pay $17,000 as a result of the suit.

The shocking, and sickly wonderful, point to note here is that Marvel us demanding $17,000 from the broke and unemployed Friedrich, who was only making a slight living on selling his Ghost Rider material at conventions in the first place.  This certainly paints Marvel in villainous light, and it is interesting noting that the other news sources chose to not address the sanction from the trial.

10.  Copyright and Fair Use

This Journal article provides definitions of Fair Use and extension history, research, and previous Fair Use case citations; though elaborate, each section is neatly compact and organized enough to be more handy than the actual policy.

Serves a handy, and lengthy, guide to the concepts of Fair Use; this serves a purpose solely of acting as background information, definitions, and research that may not be directly cited in papers, but implied.

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Sources 6-10 ~ Evan Horner

Posted on March 22, 2012 by horner53

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/06/02/us-drugs-commission-idUSTRE7513XW20110602

The article above is a global look at the war on drugs and policies regarding it. “A high-profile group of global leaders declared the “war on drugs” a failure on Thursday and urged governments to consider decriminalizing drugs in a bid to cut consumption and weaken the power of organized crime gangs.” It will be used to strengthen my overall point that there are better ways to deal with the problem of drugs

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/04/ron-paul-war-on-drugs-prohibition_n_1183353.html

This source shows presidential candidate Ron Paul’s extreme opinion on the war on drugs i will compare his opinion to other white house personnel such as obama.

http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1887488,00.html

This is a brief history of the war on drugs as told by the critically aclaimed Time Magazine. I will use it to get background information on my topic.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/ondcp

This the opposite of the Ron Paul article it is a full site on the white houses position on the war on drugs. It will help me compare the two very different positions held.

http://reason.com/archives/2002/01/01/statistics-from-the-war-on-dru/singlepage

this is strictly statistics based on the war it will be used to add much needed quantitative information to my paper

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Stand Your Ground with Caution

Posted on March 22, 2012 by davidbdale

Stand Your Ground with Caution

There is a law called Stand Your Ground that says you can kill someone in self-defense. This is one of those kinds of laws that can create a culture of violence. Under these “shoot first” laws, you can engage in violent behavior in the name of self defense and basically have a license to kill. When citizens have everyday conflicts now, like road rage, neighborly disputes, and suspicion of other races, their now aloud to resolve it with guns. Its definitely going to lead to more killing when its to easy for you to use the ‘self-defense’ excuse. The reason I believe these laws will increase the amount of murders is because in Florida ‘justifiable’ killings have tripled since the Stand Your Ground law past in 2005. When a person is aloud to take the law into there own hands, the peoples’ rights often get trampled. My rights come first if I have a gun and your out of luck. One consequence of these laws will be more “street justice”.

And don’t think it won’t effect you; every person is less safe when they’re not sure whether their neighbor may or may not be packing heat. There’s all ready more of that then ever before, and it’s only going to get worse if a greater amount of these laws gets passed. By passing laws like these, innocent people are more than, if not certainly, likely to get shot. In short, Stand Your Ground is one of those types of laws that creates more trouble than its worth. Whether or not we repeal it will determine whether we respect our citizen’s lives or the criminals’.

Posted in Assignments, In Class Exercise, Professor Posts, Stand Your Ground | 2 Comments

Grammar Minimum Requirements

Posted on March 22, 2012 by davidbdale

We probably shouldn’t have to study grammar in College Composition II, but the fact is not everybody who gets into college is comfortable with grammar basics. We’ll drill or review grammar basics in class only if necessary, but I will enforce strict standards for minimally correct writing. Papers that violate these very basic rules in the second half of the course will fail, at least temporarily, but you’ll have every opportunity to revise your work until your writing is error-free and worthy of a grade.

If your paper fails for basic grammar, I’ll refer you back to this post for advice on how to correct mistakes or perhaps to “Things Better Left Unsaid.” I’ll add to this list of 12 basic rules if other errors show up in papers often enough to warrant a new rule.

Rule 1. There/Their/They’re
They’re has only one use. It’s a contraction for They are.
Example: They’re really tasty.
Their has only one use. It’s a possessive for Them.
Example: Their chips are really tasty.
There is used the rest of the time, as an adverb of place, or as a pronoun to introduce sentences.
Example: There are plenty of chips over there.

Rule 2. Its/It’s
It’s has only one use. It’s a contraction for It is.
Example: It’s a simple rule.
Its has only one use. It’s a possessive for It.
Example: Stand that baby on its head.

Rule 3. The reason is because
Because means for the reason that.
It’s repetitiously and repeatedly redundant to say that “the reason for something is because….”
Wrong: The reason he lost his license is because he got so many tickets for speeding and reckless driving.
Right: He lost his license because he got so many tickets for speeding and reckless driving.
Right: He lost his license by driving recklessly and speeding.

Rule 4. Pronoun genders and number
It’s considered socially insensitive to automatically use male pronouns where a person’s gender is not known.
Socially insensitive: Be careful with your antecedents, or your reader will lose his place.

The common solution, of mixing a singular noun with a plural pronoun, however, is worse.
Grammatically incorrect: Be careful with your antecedents, or your reader will lose their place.
One solution is to alternate male and female pronouns in your writing.
Correct: Be careful with your antecedents, or your reader will lose her place.
Another solution is to stick with plurals.
Correct: Be careful with your antecedents, or your readers will lose their place.

Rule 5. Count and Noncount Nouns
Use the word number, not the word amount, to refer to things that can be counted, like votes. Use the word amount, not the word number, to refer to things that cannot be counted, like voting. The easy way to determine whether the noun can be counted or not is to apply the word many or much.

How many votes? Votes can be counted. Therefore we talk about the number of votes.
Correct: Early registration increased the number of votes cast in the last election: two million votes.

How much voting? Voting cannot be counted. Therefore we talk about the amount of voting.
Correct: Early registration increased the amount of voting in the last election: much more than last year.

Use the word fewer, not the word less, to refer to things that can be counted, like votes. Use the word less, not the word fewer, to refer to things that cannot be counted, like voting. The easy way to determine whether the noun can be counted or not is to apply the word many or much.

How many votes? Votes can be counted. Therefore we talk about more or fewer votes.
Correct: Fewer votes were cast this year than last year.

How much voting? Voting cannot be counted. Therefore we talk about more or less voting.
Correct: Less voting occurs in off-Presidential years than in Presidential-election years.

Rule 6. To/Too/Two
This one should be learned before high school.
Two has only one use. It’s a number.
Example: I’ll take two of those.
Too is a conjunction meaning and or in addition.
Example: I’d like one of those too.
Example: Too, I’d like one of those. (This use is rare.)
Too is also an adverb meaning excessive.
Example: Those kids are too cute.
To is used in every other case: to form infinitives, as a preposition to indicate place, or to mean roughly for the purpose.
Example: To get to London, to go to the concert, you’ll need to cross the bridge.

Rule 7. Periods and Commas Inside the Quotes
Always, always, always, always, always. Periods and commas always go inside the quotes.
Always: Election day is not just a “day,” but could really be called “election month.”
Never: Election day is not just a “day”, but could really be called “election month”.

Rule 8. Then/Than
Clear rules determine when these two words are used. They are in no way interchangeable.
Then: Used for time: “Then we had ice cream; now we have ice cream soup.”
Then: Used for consequence, with if: “If it melts, then we’ll have soup.”
Than: Used for comparisons only, such as finer: “Nothing could be finer than to be in Carolina.”
Again, only with comparisons, such as stranger: “Their money system is no stranger than ours.”

Rule 9. Affect/Effect
Affect (the verb) and Effect (the noun) are interchangeable about one time in a million. Forget about that one time; you’ll never need it. Instead, concentrate on the 999,999 times you’ll be correct by following this rule:
Affect: The cold does not affect me. Affect is a verb.
Effect: The cold has no effect on me. Effect is a noun.
Affect/Affectation: The cold does not affect me, but I pretend it does: it’s an affectation of mine. Affectation is the noun form of the verb affect. Effect has no “noun form” because it’s a noun!

Rule 10. Your/You’re
You’re has only one use. It’s a contraction for You are.
Example: You’re a fine writer.
Your has only one use. It’s a possessive adjective for You.
Example: Your writing is quite strong.

Rule 11. Single Quotes/Double Quotes
Other countries can do what they like, but in America, we use Double Quotes for everything!
Even if you’re just using quotes ironically, or for another special purpose, they’re always double, not single quotes.
Correct: McDonald’s “healthy menu” is meant as a joke.
Correct: The word “vague” shows up too often in my notes.

The only proper use of Single Quotes is inside Double Quotes.
Correct: “All our restaurants offer ‘healthy’ menu items,” said Ray Croc.

Rule 12. The Banned 2nd Person
Although it’s technically not bad grammar, writing 2nd-person sentences that address the reader as “you” is banned from academic writing.
Incorrect: You are far more likely to be pulled over for speeding if you are a teenager.
Correct: Teenagers are far more likely to be pulled over for speeding.

Rule 13. Plurals and Possessives
Writers who make mistake the plural for a possessive once will often do so repeatedly. An occasional typo won’t trigger a Fails for Grammar, but pervasive errors will.
Incorrect: America is the worlds most obese nation.
Correct: America is the world’s most obese nation.
Correct: Earth is fine but there may be other worlds we could occupy.

The rule is only slightly more complicated when a plural is formed without an “s.”
Incorrect: Democracy is every citizens responsibility.
Incorrect: Democracy is the peoples’ responsibility.
Correct: Democracy is the people’s responsibility and every citizen’s privilege.
Correct: Democracy is strong when all citizens’ rights are observed.

Posted in Course Documents, David Hodges, Professor Posts | Leave a comment

Sources 6-10 – Joe Mleczko

Posted on March 21, 2012 by joeymleczko

6. About the AAAA

Background: This source describes the American Association for Affirmative Action’s automatic opposition to any federal or state programs that eliminate or even reduce the policies of Affirmative Action.

How I Intend to Use it: The AAAA has often publicly opposed efforts by legislators to “throttle back” on affirmative action. I will examine the proposed changes in policy to evaluate whether the AAAA’s reflex opposition has prevented changes that could have made Affirmative Action better for everyone.

7. Conflicted Views of Affirmative Action

Background: This source provides actual data on how many Americans view affirmative action. These statistics provide the reader with views from both sides of the argument, some people express approval and others express their dislike.

How I Intend to Use it: With the help of the numbers provided by the tables, I hope to clearly outline where and how many people stand on the many topics of affirmative action. For example, the “Personally Affected by Affirmative Action” numbers show that of the majority of people affected by affirmative action are affected in a negative way.

8. Justices Take Up Race as a Factor in College Entry

Background: This article found in the New York Times, reports the 2003 verdict by the Supreme Court, in which it said colleges have the right to take race into account when  admitting new students. Now eleven years later, the justices are contemplating changing that ruling.

How I Intend to Use it: I must sound like a broken record, but the purpose of affirmative action was to create a color blind nation by providing every race with equal representation in places of employment and higher education. Color blind implies that race does not come into account whatsoever in the recruiting process. This ruling by the Supreme Court is allowing colleges to discriminate against applicants. This is the definition of reverse discrimination.

9. System Justification Beliefs, Affirmative Action, And Resistance to Equal Opportunity Organizations

Background: This source further explores the possibility that affirmative action causes more harm than good. According to actual studies, affirmative action policies have opponents not only among the majorities they harm, but also among the minorities they benefit.

How I Intend to Use it: As a rebuttal to the argument that minorities truly need affirmative action and would suffer without it, I will use direct examples of minorities disagreeing with affirmative action. It is now common to see people that think the United States has come far enough to survive without the policies of affirmative action. In fact, minorities now feel affirmative action takes away from true accomplishments, because others view these accomplishment as only possible through affirmative action policies. In other cases, people are less likely to support a business that is notorious for reverse discrimination against applicants. This brings a past topic of mine to the surface again where the wrong people are blamed for simply following the laws set by the government.

10. White Americans’ opposition to affirmative action: Group interest and the harm to beneficiaries objection

Background: This source explores the view that White American’s are the main group behind opposition to affirmative action, even though there are those in the minority who also oppose it. The paper explains that White American’s object to the fact that merit is not the primary qualification.

How I Intend to Use it: I like this source, because this entire time I have been arguing that affirmative action creates reverse discrimination. While I still find this to be true, this paper addresses the fact that through reverse discrimination, the concept of merit is suddenly less important. In a nation that pride’s itself on the American Dream, merit and ability is extremely relevant. Making merit irrelevant is un-American, and is another good example of the harm affirmative action does.

Posted in Sources 6-10 | 2 Comments

Definition Essay Revised- Brett Lang

Posted on March 21, 2012 by langer278

Killer Supplements

Dietary supplements kill, and you may not even know how, or be warned that the product is doing so too. People go on large diets, workout for hours, and take different supplements to get a better looking body that they prefer, and feel looks good to them. imagine a person walks into GNC looking for something to help them get thinner and lose weight. They see tons of dietary supplements that say, Huge weight loss, best weight loss supplement out there, lose weight in eight weeks on our product, and etcetera. They all sound completely wonderful and just what they need, but with further research the person finds these “amazing” supplements actually cause terrible health issues such as high blood pressure, heart attacks, seizures, death, and more. This gets them to wondering how these products get out on the market like that and causes them to ponder, what is a dietary supplement?

A dietary supplement is an herbal based product made to help one with a healthy benefit, which is followed along by a bunch of loose and seemingly dangerous regulations that causes it to be a danger to the user, but Congress defines it a little differently. According to Congress under the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act, it says a dietary supplement is “a product (other than tobacco) that is intended to supplement the diet;contains one or more of each dietary ingredients (including vitamins; minerals; herbs or other botanicals; amino acids; and other substances) or their constituents;is intended to be taken by mouth as a pill, capsule, tablet, or liquid; and is labeled on the front panel as being a dietary supplement,”(“Dietary Supplements”). Now according to all these rules set by the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act, this is what you need to create a dietary supplement. The question that comes up now is how does an Ephedra based product, Ephedra being banned by the FDA for use because of its highly catastrophic side effects and cause of death, such as Metabolife356 meet these requirements?

Metabolife 356 was a very popular Ephedra based product. The ingredients of the product is as follows: Vitamin E (as di-alpha tocopheryl acetate) (6 i.u.), Magnesium (as Magnesium Chelate) (75 mg), Zinc (as Zinc Chelate) (5 mg), Chromium (as Chromium Piccolinate) (75 mcg), and a proprietary blend (728 mg total) of the following: Guarana (seed), Ephedra (Ma Huang) extract (ephedrine group alkaloids) (aerial part), Bee Pollen, Eleuthero (Siberian Ginseng) (root), Ginger (root), Lecithin, Bovine Complex, Damiana (leaf), Sarsaparilla (root), Goldenseal (aerial part), Nettle (leaf), Gotu Kola (aerial part), Spirulina, Royal Jelly. Other ingredients: Citric acid, glycine, caffeine, croscarmellose sodium, protein hydrolysate, silica, modified cellulose, magnesium stearate, dextrin, dextrose, sodium carboxymethylcellulose, sodium citrate, ascorbic acid (“Metabolife 356″). Taking a look at each important component lets see how it meets the requirements under the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act. Was the Metabolife 356 even a supplement at all?

A dietary supplement is intended to supplement the diet, and this product claims to do exactly that and help with weight loss. Having vitamins in a dietary supplement is essential and we know it has at least one with Vitamin E. Along with Vitamins, minerals are just as important to be included in the product, which the Metabolife has with zinc being included in its ingredients. The main banned component of the Metabolife 356 completes the criteria for a herb or botanical component. Ephedra being a herb coming from the plant also named Ephedra is what makes this requirement met(“What is Ephedrine?”). The plant is a shrub located in desert region areas such as Asia, which they extract and create into the Ephedra component found in the Metabolife356(“What is Ephedrine?”). After that you must have an amino acid component in the mix of a dietary supplement. One of the amino acid compounds found in this product is glycine which completes the requirement of at least one amino acid being included in the dietary supplement. Based on the qualifications for ingredients the Metabolife 356 has met all the needed requirements set. When looking at the website on the product it clearly states to take the product dosage and calls the product “caplets,” which checks off another restriction on what dietary supplements must be taken as (“Metabolife356″). The product is also clearly labeled as a dietary supplement too.

When looking over the Metabolife product, the first solution you come upon is to eliminate the Ephedra herb, so that you don’t have the terrible side effects. Add a different herb what’s the big deal with this one if it kills? The thing is it also gives everything the user wants when they buy the product. They want the loss of weight and they want it fast. That’s exactly what the Ephedra does. It highly stimulants your body and gets you going and helps burn off the fat much faster, along with giving you a huge dose of energy to use to help burn off the fat. Mixing it with the Caffeine component in the Metabolife 356 causes an even higher boost of energy along with a very dangerous health risk to the user. The combination gives too much high stimulation on your body and heart. Ephedra gives all the benefits that the user bought the product for, while killing them internally at the same time. Without the ephedra the Metabolife 356 is nothing. The ephedra makes and breaks the product into what it is, but it’s the regulations and loose qualifications that really created the dangers in this product to be out there.

It was easily shown how this dangerous life risking product became an easy to buy supplement on the shelf for anyone to purchase. This is caused by the terrible qualifications of a dietary supplement. The rules are quite easy to follow and there are no restrictions to the ingredients you can add. Where is the part that says you can’t have people’s hands as part of the ingredients in your product, or any dangerous component. Besides the Ephedra that was recently banned, I don’t see any where it says what you can’t put into a dietary supplement. There are no rules for testing for safety before the product is put on the market, or providing evidence that it does what it states. It just says it needs to do what the label says, but the manufacturer doesn’t have to show prove. That’s very contradicting because how does the user knows it does what it says without evidence? Easy answer, they don’t and they never will until it is tested. The testing for safety is done after sale, and complaints of the product. It can cause large complications and possible dangers to the user. The possibilities for the dietary supplement to cause any number of outcomes harmful or helpful is endless. they have no real tight rules or restrictions. Once you meet the very basic ingredients and claims you can do whatever to the product and sell millions of the supplement before it’s even questioned what is in the product and how safe it is? It’s a very open-ended topic with such a broad way to go with the product, that the manufacturers have gone with the leash they’ve been given so far that it’s not really certain if the FDA has any control, sight, or idea that they could pull back on the dietary supplement industry and it even be there or stopped.

The  Metabolife356 product was so easily checked out to definitely be a dietary supplement in every way and form from ingredients, to labeling, and claims. It puts a real question mark to the regulations and requirements that are set up on supplements as to how they are manufactured, regulated, and determined a good dietary supplement. If people could easily have made products such as the Metabolife 356 with the Ephedra component being included, that had caused death to some users, then why wouldn’t someone be able to put a worse and more dangerous herb or other component in the mix. The classifications of a dietary supplement is very weak and set around many rules with loop holes in them. A dietary supplement may be what it is as the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act defines it as, which the Ephedra product Metabolife 356 meets, but A dietary supplement is also a very poorly regulated, quite frightening, and dangerous health risk to any user that does not know what they are really paying for in the end.

Works Cited

“Dietary Supplements.”

“Ephedra.”

“Metabolife 356.”

“What Is Ephedrine?”

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A08- Definition Essay Revision

Posted on March 21, 2012 by aimelonsdorf

Americans have always been worried about their weight and physical appearance. Women began to want to be “skinny” ever since Twiggy began to dominate the modeling industry, and sexy curves took its appeal with Marilyn Monroe. Men began to start working out and obtaining muscle mass with the appearance of Arnold Schwarzenegger. But, the importance of being within healthy ranges has only become a rising trend.

This new spike in maintaining healthy weights began in 2001 when Surgeon General David Satcher announced that American obesity was becoming an epidemic and that the USA was the worlds most obese nation. The Surgeon General and his team defined America’s obesity by the Body Mass Index (BMI) system that measures the amount of fat, the flabby tissue that gives a person their out of shape appearance, a person has in comparison to their height and weight; “BMI is calculated as weight in pounds divided by the square of the height in inches, multiplied by 703. Alternatively, BMI can be calculated as weight in kilograms divided by the square of the height in meters (The Lancet).” A BMI over 25 is considered to be overweight, signaling that a person has more fat than he or she is supposed to have. When the Surgeon General made his announcement in 2001, Americans were considered to be overweight with a cumulative BMI of approximately 41.5.

But, the BMI system has various limitations that were not taken into account during the Surgeon General’s announcement. Research has proven that although the BMI measurements claim to measure body fat, it does not do so as directly as people think. For example, the system can overestimate the amount of fat in a person(s) who is muscular and underestimate the amount of a person(s) who have lost muscle mass, such as the elderly.

In adolescents, obesity is defined as age and gender specific or, as anyone ranking above the 95th percentile range in the CDC BMI-for-age-growth charts. These charts easily assess a child’s BMI by comparing their height and weight growth yearly. A child’s percentile ranking is relative to the ranking of other growing adolescents in the same age and gender grouping. These charts not only help assess growing children who are overweight, but also underweight. Each child is supposed to be measured with the charts by their doctors during their yearly physical.

Since the Surgeon General Announced that America was the world’s most obese nation, there has been an abrupt change in the American culture to fix that. Not only has the government gotten involved in helping maintain and lower obesity levels in Americans, but there has been a growth in the amount of private intervention being put out by privately owned companies and non-profit organizations. Although the common thought would be that Americans want to be skinny (since being thin is the clear opposite of being obese) the most commonly used point during the fight against obesity has been to do it in a healthy manor.

One of the most important factors in fighting obesity is government intervention, or actions taken by the government in order to affect the decisions made by individuals on either economic or social matters. Due to the fact that people highly value their privacy and ability to make their own decisions, government intervention into the personal lives of the public is constantly being called into question: how far can the government go?

The government has already intervened into the every day lives of Americans; they have done this so much and so well that people hardly notice it anymore. For example the federal government constantly intervenes in the lives of Americans by installing traffic lights, setting curfew laws, and creating school curriculums. But, when the Surgeon General made his announcement about obesity, the general public rejected the early attempts to regulate the nations obesity levels. Weight, is a personal issue and for a while, a great deal of people felt that it was too personal for government intervention. However, the public has overtime become accustomed and more aware of the obesity epidemic, primarily to both government and private intervention.

A major issue with the government trying to reduce the and maintain the current levels of obesity in America is the fact that their intervention would have to surpass the economic states of some areas of the countries. People residing in lower income areas tend to maintain higher obesity levels due to the simple fact that eating healthy is expensive. In most low income places, a 12 pack of Cosmic Brownies is equivalent to the price of about two packages of grapes. So, naturally, to save money, people tend to eat more fattening foods.  In places such as this, there is also less money being given to school districts where there are less healthy alternatives for students to eat during lunch and snack time. The government, along with many private companies and non-profit organizations have been pushing for more natural grown foods in schools, such as fruits and vegetables, and healthier options to be provided for students, pretzels as opposed to cookies. Many companies have been donating money to get healthier options for students to eat and providing money for these options to become more accessible and affordable.

Leading Medical Journal, The Lancet, states the government should be responsible for making healthy foods cheeper and affordable stating that they should be easily accessible at both private and public schools along with public universities. So, a possibility to increase health the over all health in the general public would be to produce cheeper produce and for the government to fund more home-grown produce, such as establishing new farms and giving money to already existing ones. If fresh produce is more affordable, there is a possibility that they will become more desirable and regularly consumed. An issue with this would be that this idea would be opposing foreign trade and would be slightly more costly.

One of the toughest forms of intervention is trying to influence the private sphere of people. The private sphere is a space known only to the person who possesses it; it contains their thoughts, desires and knowledge. Republicans feel that there should be little to no government involvement into this realm while Democrats feel that there should be a great deal of intervention. But with an issue such as obesity, something needs to be done.

Bureaucrats cannot sit down with every family during every meal to make sure good eating habits are being enforced and proper exercise routines are being followed.  One possible way of doing this, according Kersh and Monroe, is to create an even stronger sense of social disapproval. The idea is to alter the current social atmosphere and have fast food chains, and other fattening foods, be thought of as highly unacceptable and even detrimental to the overall health of a person. Supersize Me, a documentary study about McDonald’s and other fast corporations, has already given out a simple form of social disapproval: fast food makes you fat. Since the documentary was released, there has been a dramatic chance in the way the fast food industry was run. They are now required to provide a list of how many calories are in each of their options; many companies are now offering low calorie meals; and there is no longer the “supersize” option at most fast food establishments. There needs to be a greater emphasis on eating healthy as opposed to the alternative.

But, according to Kersh and Monroe, furthering social disapprovals should conducted similarly to the way the government and other organizations made drugs and alcohol appear socially unacceptable: through the flow of information. So, they suggest that another positive form of influence to public behavior can be achieved through medical-science which means allowing people to know facts about being overweight and what it means to be physically fit. According to the two, the facts do not have to be entirely accurate; the idea is to convey the true message that being overweight is not good and will soon be socially unacceptable. Also, people should be able to get help outside of the gym, according to the authors, who want there to be group meetings similar to meetings set up for drug addicts. The demon user/ industry effect is to influence Americans to feel like people who eat poorly and industries that promote poor health habits are “demons,” or inherently bad. Surprisingly, it is easier than it seems to put a demonic spin on negative foods.

In 2009, leading expert in childhood obesity Robert Lusting’s lecture, “Sugar: the Bitter Truth,” got over 800 thousand views on YouTube with a viewer growth rate rate of approximately 50 thousand views a month. The hour and a half long speech persuasively lists sugar as a toxin and a poison and often refers to it as evil. Toxic sugar is not only the common white household substance, scientifically known as sucrose, but also high-fructose corn syrup, which Lusting calls the “most demonizing addictive known to man (Taubes, Gary).” Not only does sugar provide consumers with empty calories, calories that provide no nutritional value, but can cause numerous health issues such as obesity, hypertension and diabetes. However, this is not to say that people should not be eating positive sugars: the sugars that come from fruits, vegetables and whole grains that provide antioxidants, energy and often enzymes that encourage a natural boost in metabolism, leading to weight loss. Foods that contain toxic sugars, such as anything processed, from a fast food restaurant, and many desserts should be avoided.

Since Americans have acknowledged their growing obesity problem, there has been a rapid increase in the over all health of the American Public and a decline in the nations average BMI. According to a study conducted by one of the top medical journals, The Lancet, as a follow up to the study produced by the Surgeon General in 2001, when modern international BMIs are compared, America is not even in the top 10. America has lost its perviously held number one spot to the small nation of Nauru. Over the last decade or so, the push for government intervention and personal motivation to get fit, and healthy has paid off. While American men are rated 10th on the international BMI scale, American women are ranked 36th with a BMI of 28.7. This is proof that, obesity can be sustained and maintained at its current levels and even prevented for the future.

The truth is, it is very hard to influence the public and personal sphere of America. But, if it is reached, it is possible that obesity can be maintained at its current levels and even possibly decreased and one day stopped.

Works cited:

“About Body Mass Index for Children and Teens.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 13 Sept. 2011. Web. 21 Mar. 2012. <http://www.cdc.gov/healthyweight/assessing/bmi/childrens_bmi/about_childrens_bmi.html>.

“Changing the Future of Obesity: Science, Policy, and Action.” : The Lancet. Web. 07 Mar. 2012. <http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(11)60815-5/fulltext>.

“Health Affairs.” The Politics Of Obesity: Seven Steps To Government Action. Web. 07 Mar. 2012. <http://content.healthaffairs.org/content/21/6/142.full>.

“Scarsdale Diet – The Complete Scarsdale Medical Diet.” Scarsdale Diet. Web. 07 Mar. 2012. <http://www.scarsdalediet.com/>.

Taubes, Gary. “Is Sugar Toxic?” NY Times Online. Web. <http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/17/magazine/mag-17Sugar-t.html?pagewanted=all>.

 

“The Surgeon General’s Call To Action To Prevent and Decrease Overweight and Obesity.” Surgeon General. Web. 19 Mar. 2012. <http://www.surgeongeneral.gov/topics/obesity/calltoaction/1_1.html>

“US Loses Its Fat Supremacy.” LiveScience.com. Web. 07 Mar. 2012. <http://www.livescience.com/11825-global-obesitiy-united-states-ranking.html>.

“US Loses Its Fat Supremacy.” LiveScience.com. Web. 07 Mar. 2012. <http://www.livescience.com/11825-global-obesitiy-united-states-ranking.html

Posted in x Definition Essay | 2 Comments

A09: Visual Argument

Posted on March 20, 2012 by davidbdale

As an example of a visual argument analysis, I will show a brief public service announcement (PSA) produced by the Ad Council for a campaign to prevent or reduce domestic violence.

While the producers depend on the voiceover text to carry much of the argument of the piece, we’ll be concentrating in class on the part the visuals play in reinforcing the message of the announcement.

For TUE MAR 27, you’ll select any other visual you like from the Ad Council website and use it to produce your own visual analysis, a non-formal piece of rhetorical writing you can format any way you wish. What appears below is not meant to guide you in constructing your own analysis; it’s merely notes on my impressions as I watch the PSA a few times.

  • The “ad” begins with a view of the ceiling of the couple’s apartment. They must spend quite a bit of time looking up at that ceiling, trying to imagine (or afraid to imagine) how the scene appears just a few feet away from their heads.
  • The shot establishes that the sounds come from upstairs, not next door. This quickly indicates that the couple does not share a two-bedroom apartment with the abuser and his victim.
  • The politics of the couple’s relationship is critical to this argument. When we first see them, the man is reading while the woman is sitting upright, stiff with discomfort, riveted on the sounds from upstairs the man is trying to ignore.
  • They are in bed, the ultimate setting for domestic comfort and security, but she feels anything but safe. What is she thinking about the man in the bed next to her?
  • She gets under the covers—to feel safe? to indicate that she does not intend to go anywhere? to get closer to her protector?
  • When she looks at him, is it with sadness? Yes, but also guilt? Yes, but also pleading? She might expect him to do something. She might be wondering how much she can trust him if he can listen to a man beat a woman and NOT do something. She might just be feeling helpless herself.
  • They are not poor. They live in a good-looking apartment with good linens and nice furniture. The implication is that violence can happen anywhere.
  • When the man does nothing, she turns away, not toward him. Has their failure to act (his failure to act) damaged their intimacy? Does she not want to be near him? Does she not feel as safe as she wants to feel when she’s near him?
  • When he puts down his book, we see his wedding band. They are married. Whether she expects his protection or not, they are making this choice together, to ignore what is going on above them. The telephone is inches away from his hand as he turns out the light. No doubt the noises from upstairs will sound even louder in the dark.
  • It is their business, says the slogan on the screen. And there is no excuse. For domestic violence. And no excuse not to place the call to find out how to report it.

The purpose of the ad and the argument is to reinforce an ethical appeal to anyone aware of domestic violence to take responsibility and at least not ignore it.

ASSIGNMENT SPECIFICS

  • Write your first Analysis of a Visual Argument paper.
  • An informal piece of rhetorical writing you may structure any way you wish: as a series of notes, categorized impressions, a diary of your changing attitudes toward the argument over several days, a script of the conversation you had with someone else about the ad, or any other approach you wish to take.
  • You may even respond visually, if you wish.
  • Include a Works Cited if appropriate.
  • Title your post Visual Argument—Author Name.
  • Publish your definition essay in the A09: Visual Argument category.

GRADE DETAILS

  • DUE TUE MAR 27 before class.
  • Customary late penalties. (0-24 hours 10%) (24-48 hours 20%) (48+ hours, 0 grade)
  • Rhetorical Writing grade category (15%)
Posted in Assignments, David Hodges, Professor Posts, X Visual Argument | Leave a comment

A08-Def. Essay Revised- Aime Lonsdorf

Posted on March 19, 2012 by aimelonsdorf

The image of a thin American woman has only become a recent trend in society. Diets and workout videos have only recently started popping up as television commercials and the over all health of the population has just become an increasing trend. This new spike in keeping healthy began when Surgeon General David Satcher announced in 2001 that American obesity was becoming an epidemic and that the USA was the worlds most obese nation. The Surgeon General and his team defined America’s obesity by the Body Mass Index (BMI) system that measures the amount of fat a person has in comparison to their height; “BMI is calculated as weight in pounds divided by the square of the height in inches, multiplied by 703. Alternatively, BMI can be calculated as weight in kilograms divided by the square of the height in meters (The Lancet).” A BMI over 25 is considered to be overweight. In 2001, Americans were considered to be overweight with a cumulative BMI of approximately 41.5.

But, the BMI system has various limitations that were not taken into account during the Surgeon General’s announcement. For one, the system can overestimate the amount of fat in a person(s) who is muscular and underestimate the amount of a person(s) who have lost muscle mass, such as the elderly.

In adolescents, obesity is defined as age and gender specific or as anyone ranking above the 95th percentile range. Doctors can calculate this easily through growth charts that not only mark age  but mark height and weight. Each child is supposed to be measured with the charts during their yearly physical.

One of the most important factors in fighting obesity is government intervention, or actions taken by the government in order to affect the decisions made by individuals on either economic or social matters. Due to the fact that people highly value their privacy and ability to make their own decisions, government intervention into the personal lives of the public is constantly being called into question: how far can the government go?

The government has already intervened into the every day lives of Americans; they have done this so much and so well that people hardly notice it anymore. For example the federal government constantly intervenes in the lives of Americans by installing traffic lights, setting curfew laws, and creating school curriculums. But, when the Surgeon General made his announcement, the general public rejected the early attempts to regulate the nations obesity levels. Weight, is a personal issue and for a while, a great deal of people felt that it was too personal for government intervention. However, the public has overtime become accustomed and more aware of the obesity epidemic, primarily to government intervention.

A major issue with the government trying to reduce the and maintain the current levels of obesity in America is the fact that their intervention would have to surpass laws and school curriculums. These laws would have to enter a new sphere of influence perviously untouched: the private sphere. The private sphere is a space known only to the person who possesses it; it contains their thoughts, desires and knowledge. Republicans feel that there should be little to no government involvement into this realm while Democrats feel that there should be a great deal of intervention. But with an issue such as obesity, something needs to be done.

A government official cannot sit down with every family during every meal to make sure good eating habits are being enforced and proper exercise routines are being followed.  One possible way of doing this, according Kersh and Monroe, is to create an even stronger sense of social disapproval. The idea is to alter social norms and have fast food chains and fattening foods be thought of as highly unacceptable. According to Kersh and Monroe, a step like this should be conducted similarly to the way things like marijuana and alcohol were deemed socially unacceptable and bad. Another way to influence public behavior is through medical-science which means allowing people to know facts about being overweight and what it means to be physically fit. However, according to the authors, the facts do not have to be entirely accurate; the idea is to convey the true message that being overweight is not good and will soon be socially unacceptable. Also, people should be able to get help outside of the gym, according to the authors, who want there to be group meetings similar to meetings set up for drug addicts. The demon user/ industry effect is to make Americans feel that people who eat poorly and industries that promote poor health habits are “demons,” or bad.

Surprisingly, it is easier than it seems to put a demonic spin on negative foods such as sugar. Sugar, can be defined as the most toxic food. Although there are positive sugars that come from eating whole grains, fruits and vegetables that will give off quick and healthy energy, most people receive negative, fatty sugar, allowing a toxic sludge to form inside of their bodies that make them sleepy and fat. Recently, it was proven that some artificial flavorings and sweeteners can cause early signs of cancer. Also, hard sugars, the sugars that make foods such as cakes and sodas taste delicious, increase calorie intake, allowing fat to marbleize into muscle and other body tissues, making it almost impossible to rid the body of its new found layering. Sugars also cause acne and have also been linked to attention deficit disorders. This fat not only makes way for America’s “obesity” problem, but it also creates social issues for children and teens. As it turns out, sugar is toxic to the body.

Following up with “toxic” sugar, a study produced by one of the top medical journals, The Lancet’s, the government should be responsible for making healthy foods cheeper and affordable. They should be easily accessible at both private and public schools along with universities. A large portion of American citizens that are overweight are underprivileged and cannot afford top grade foods, especially since the price of produce and lean meats has risen significantly with the current economic recession and the decline in the American agricultural industry. So, a possibility to increase health in the general public would be to produce cheeper produce and for the government to fund more home-grown produce, such as establishing new farms and giving money to already existing ones.

Since Americans have acknowledged their growing obesity problem, there has been a rapid increase in the over all health of the American Public and a decline in the nations average BMI. According to a study conducted by one of the top medical journals, The Lancet, when modern international BMIs are compared, America is not even in the top 10. America has lost its perviously held number one spot to the small nation of Nauru. Over the last decade or so, the push for government intervention and personal motivation to get fit, and healthy has paid off. While American men are rated 10th on the international BMI scale, American women are ranked 36th with a BMI of 28.7. This is proof that, obesity can be sustained and maintained at its current levels and even prevented for the future.

The truth is, it is very hard to influence the public and personal sphere of America. But, if it is reached, it is possible that obesity can be maintained at its current levels and even possibly decreased and one day stopped.

Works cited:

“Changing the Future of Obesity: Science, Policy, and Action.” : The Lancet. Web. 07 Mar. 2012. <http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(11)60815-5/fulltext>.

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“Health Affairs.” The Politics Of Obesity: Seven Steps To Government Action. Web. 07 Mar. 2012. <http://content.healthaffairs.org/content/21/6/142.full>.

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“Scarsdale Diet – The Complete Scarsdale Medical Diet.” Scarsdale Diet. Web. 07 Mar. 2012. <http://www.scarsdalediet.com/>.

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“The Surgeon General’s Call To Action To Prevent and Decrease Overweight and Obesity.” Surgeon General. Web. 19 Mar. 2012. <http://www.surgeongeneral.gov/topics/obesity/calltoaction/1_1.html>

“US Loses Its Fat Supremacy.” LiveScience.com. Web. 07 Mar. 2012. <http://www.livescience.com/11825-global-obesitiy-united-states-ranking.html>.

WebsiteTagsEditDelete

“US Loses Its Fat Supremacy.” LiveScience.com. Web. 07 Mar. 2012. <http://www.livescience.com/11825-global-obesitiy-united-states-ranking.html

Posted in x Definition Essay | 2 Comments

Invention of Money Rewrite- Eddie Jahn

Posted on March 19, 2012 by jahne92

Money is a concept that is people over look. Reading about the stone money from the small island called Yap has made me realize how interesting money is. The stone money that was used on Yap (which was called fei) ranged in diameter from one foot to twelve feet, and weighing as much as a car.  The process of buying something was keeping the fei in the same spot and everyone just knowing the ownership of the fei has changed. That reminds me a lot of the money we use in the United States such as paying with checks, Jacob Goldstein and David Kestenbaum of NPR give a very good example of this, ” If you go online to pay your electric bill, what’s really changing in the world? Some digits in your bank account get shifted around, along with some digits in the power company’s bank account.” My thoughts have changed about money by reading this story of the fei and island of Yap, because I did not know we were using the same type of transferring money. The ownership of the money is just changing if it is a fei or digits in a bank account. Another aspect of the story that I found very interesting was when the Germans came over to the island of Yap ,and marked the fei with a black painted cross showing that it was owned by the Germans until they islanders rebuilt the highways on Yap, then paid the islanders by erasing the black cross, so they got repaid their fei.

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