Colbert Vs. Wikipedia

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=20PlHx_JjEo


     The host of The Colbert Report, Stephen Colbert, Satirized Wikipedia for its unreliability. He targeted the website the whole episode and introduced the audience to a new concept which he called, "Wikilobbying". Wikilobbying is the payment given to Wikipedia by large corporations like Microsoft, to edit the articles and make their products seem more desirable. Stephen Colbert wants to drift his audience away from relying on Wikipedia because the information is not accurate. He believes that since Wikipedia gives us relative information that is condensed and easy to access, people tend to agree with the article. During the show, Colbert used different methods to convey his message to the audience. He achieved his satire by using the techniques of irony and innuendo. His use of Irony could be seen when he quotes the founder of Wikipedia and completely satirizes it to show that the morals that the founder claims to have are not applicable to a capitalist society.The audience of the show could also witness the innuendo technique. Stephen Colbert indirectly attacks Microsoft when he claims that people no longer trust Microsoft. The company will then regain the trust of the people by paying Wikipedia to write articles to trust Microsoft. To sum it up, Stephen Colbert wants the people to be aware that their most trusted source is in fact tampered with and unreliable.

Internet Users Demand Less Interactivity

http://www.theonion.com/articles/internet-users-demand-less-interactivity,30920/?ref=auto


On January 26, 2013, an article was published on www.theonion.com. The article talked about the views of many internet users in San Francisco and their dissatisfaction with the quality of internet browsing. Most of these people have expressed their opinions to reporters and  complained that they are tired of being a part of the internet browsing experience and that all they want now is to visit a website with no participation on their part. The majority of users are fed up with the bombarding interaction that takes place in websites through constant requests to share content on social media, leave comments, and generally “join in on the discussion,” The users are overwhelmed with this type of browsing and simply just want to visit a website, stay there and explore for the time they choose to be there, leave and move on with their lives. The lack of motivation to browse the internet could possibly affect businesses whose income primarily relies on users who are interested and click on the suggested link. The internet evolved very quickly and some of the users do not like it. However, it is too late to change since many teens, young adults, students, and business owners have adapted to these new ways. Hopefully, websites could find a balance between the two extremes.

Pentagon Ends Ban on Women in Combat

Shashank Bengali, Los Angeles Times


On January 3,2013 The Defense Secretary,  Leon E. Panetta, ended the ban on women serving in combat. This ban opened up 200,000 new positions on the front lines as well as opportunities in the special forces commando unit. However, this decision does come with restrictions. The Defense officials have given armed services until 2016 to ask for special waivers if they believe any position should still remain closed to women. Many analysts believe that this decision was emerged because of an attempt to stimulate the economy and the Iraqi and Afghan wars. During the tough times when the country was in shortage of troops, women took the roles of men by serving as drivers, medics, and mechanics. It is expected that 14,000 new jobs will be available to women serving in the military  just only in the month of February. These new opportunities also allow women to move up in military rankings allowing them to increase their income potential. This opportunity is a very large step forward for women. They have been fighting for their rights from men since the beginning of our history and here they are today serving this country alongside of them with great pride and integrity.

Observing Nature

With a notebook and a pencil in hand without the disturbance of modern day technology, one can really tune in all their senses. The sun is about to set. The blue sky is is practically nonexistent and all that is left is the light orange and yellow mix. A cool breeze would show up now and then and ease the effect of the heat as the rays of the sun are disappearing. With a deep breath, the smoke from the Sunday barbecue is inhaled as my stomach is making noises, sending me signs to put food in my system. As i get bored, I call my dog Marley who is very responsive to her name and quickly rushes outside. I turn my head and a squirrel is indulging in a lemon from the the tree. The sounds of the squirrel nibbling on the lemon could be heard from the other side of the backyard. Marley soon becomes aware of the uninvited guest and the peaceful nature was all of a sudden replaced by loud barking, shaking trees, and dog tags hitting each other as Marley sprints her way across the backyard and back a couple of times in order to obtain a visual on the escaping squirrel. The sound of the guests inside laughing, making their toasts, and a soccer game on the television blasted at high volume also took over nature's peaceful effect.The sprinklers are activated. The pollination of the bees is terminated and the maladjusted sprinkler was aimed right at my location. I was hit with a cool burst of water and therefore decided to conclude my observation. I stood up and made my way inside until halfway there I turn around and realize that Marley, my Labrador dog, has made a visit to Raging Waters and is playing with the water from the sprinkler. She was soaking wet and thought the towel I was throwing at her was part of a game. She jumped at me and spoiled all my clothes which led to my immediate decision to go inside freshen up.

New York State Pass Gun Laws

Christopher Mathias, Huffington Post

The state of New York has finally taken initiative and passed gun laws before any other state or even the country as a whole.They enacted the toughest gun restrictions on January 14, 2013. These restrictions are primarily a reaction to the Connecticut school massacre. It expanded assault weapon ban and background checks for buying ammunition which now only come in magazines of seven rounds. In addition to these extensions, an approximated one million people who own legal semi-automatic rifles will be allowed to keep them but have a year to report them to the proper authorities. The sale of any more semi-automatic rifles is now prohibited. New York has lead the way into a path that should have arguably been followed a long time ago. The question whether these laws will actually make people safer, the extremity of the laws, and the infringement on second amendment rights still come up even though the amendment is very carefully protected. The set of restriction are simply for precautionary measure so that more school shootings do not occur in the near future. Any individual who buys large amounts of ammunition will be flagged by the system and immediately reported to the police department. Hopefully the rest of the country will also take these precautions because the last thing we want to witness is another cold blooded school massacre. It is true that if one has decided by free will to go and fire bullets at anyone in their sight, the damage will be devastating no matter how strict the weapon restrictions are, however by passing these laws, we can take precautionary measures and foresee a potential threat as well as limit the casualties to an absolute minimum.

Independent Suggested Reading

     Over the winter vacation, we were assigned to read the autobiography or memoir of our choice from the list provided. After we were responsible to present the piece of literature that we had read and talk about things like themes, main events, and important quotations. All of the stories touched up on the author's life in one way or another however "The Child Called It" by Dave Pelzer stood out out of the rest of the twenty- two pieces of literature. That is the book I am most likely to read in the future because it heavily reaches out and touches your emotions. The events were based on a true story and the fact that such terrible events occurred in someone's childhood is frightening. I receive unconditional love and support from my parents and can not imagine a world without that. This story might even help me appreciate what I take for granted. I would be emotionally affected if one of my friends even wished my death but having your parents wish your death is a completely different issue and it certainly makes a huge impact in that person's social behavior.
     The story I am least likely to read is "A Million Little Pieces" by James Frey. I think that it was very brave of Frey to realize his problem and go to a rehabilitation center to fix it however, I think that the story has been quite tweaked to make himself look like a brave hero while in reality he was a drug addict with a problem. Whenever he justified selling two thousand pounds of hashish to raise money for college, the irony just got me to assume that he was not very truthful in his reasoning. In the end he became a successful writer and I am very glad someone who had as deep of a problem as he did did not end up behind the bars for a more serious crime and instead became a successful writer who has corrected his problem.

Cutting for Bieber

Christian Piatt, Huffington Post

     Recently, TMZ had revealed photos of the pop sensation at a party smoking what appears to be a cigar. Although there were suspicions of that cigar actually being a marijuana blunt, no one exactly knew what kind of tobacco that wrapping paper actually contained. At least not until Justin Bieber himself admit to the fact that he was actually smoking marijuana. This news traveled at lightning speed and became a very big hit. The obsession with Bieber's indulgence on an illegal item caused chaos in the entertainment world and even caused the death of a paparazzi who got hit by a car while chasing Justin Bieber because he claimed that he saw Bieber smoking weed. After this tragic death, a group of Justin Bieber fans uploaded photos of wounds on their wrists to indirectly make Bieber feel guilty and want to stop smoking marijuana. This movement became more popular as many fans joined the "Cutting for Bieber" bandwagon and slitting their wrists to get Justin to stop. This has truly affected this pop star's reputation and has angered many parents whose children have been hospitalized in attempt to get Bieber to stop smoking. The debate still goes on whether Justin Bieber has a responsibility to his young fans to live a clean life or if he is only being human and indulging in something very tempting. Either way, it is outrageous to see people harming them selves for a choice another human being is making. It should not matter how obsessed you are with that person, harming yourself should not be an answer.