This video from TheChannelOneNews is very funny check it out.

Most recent Picture, taken a few days before the Bird Cage burned down.

Group Project: Are Video Games Good for Children's Development?

The Question:
Video games are a complicated topic. Do they make children violent? Do they develop social skills in children? Do they help develop critical thinking skills?

My Opinion:
For me, I think video games can make children violent. I do not think that video games develop social skills in children, but I do think that video games give children strong critical thinking skills.

Where This Came From In My Personal Life:
The idea that violent video games make kids violent comes from being raised with the idea. My grandparents strongly believe this. However, I have developed my own sense of this, because I watch a lot of television shows about real crimes, and I feel like I see a lot of teens that commit murder played violent video games or watched violent T.V. This is a broad assumption of course because there are other factors that go into making a murderer. I also have a problem with video games creating good social skills, that's just my own personal idea of a gamer, that the game becomes their life (don't hate me, I know that is horrible). And lastly, I totally believe that video games promote critical thinking, and develop and facilitate those skills. This comes from the fact that my little brother learned how to read from playing video games, and he also has a much greater affinity for thinking out side the box.

My Support:
Violent video games have been largely blamed for kids becoming violent and/or committing crimes. According to an  Iowa State University study concludes after, "analyzing 130 research reports on more than 130,000 subjects worldwide, proves conclusively that exposure to violent video games makes more aggressive, less caring kids -- regardless of their age, sex or culture." So my initial opinion about violent video games having a negative effect on kids, was right.
 Prosocial, Antisocial, and Other Effects of Recreational Video Games, talks about the social side of video games. This covers several aspects of video games and how it effects the player, and it raises the a couple of hypothesis's on the topic, "If the in-game context requires players to cooperate to achieve goals, this might also teach teamwork and social coordination skills...the social context outside of the game may matter. Playing a violent game in a room with other friends (virtual or real) might increase the aggression effect because players are giving each other social support for aggression"(254). Unfortunately this topic has not been studied. So the answer to the question is a mystery.
The last topic of discussion is about critical thinking being developed by video games for kids. It is how I had originally thought, "schools such as Quest to Learn, which is based in New York City and Chicago, employ video games to engage students in the education process. Its curriculum uses games to teach critical thinking and problem-solving skills"(9). And there are further leaps towards this kind of teaching. For more information check out, How Blogs, Social Media, and Video Games Improve Education.

As A Group:
We did some common ground with our original thought, and with our final conclusions. First in the area of violent video games causing violence in kids, we all pretty much agreed that it has a lot to do with it, however we all felt that it is not up to the video game developers to make sure their content is suitable for children. It is also up to the parents to check out what their kids are doing, and being aware of what ratings the games have that they are buying. As for the social part of video gaming, Jason and I agreed that there is no way that video games develop social skills. Austyn did not agree with us at all. Unfortunately because of the lack of evidence, we did come to a happy medium. We all agreed on that some games can give you a common interest and help you bond with friends and give you something to talk about. That can develop social skill. Jason and I had to really understand where Austyn was coming from, and after a little while we got there. Critical thinking was something we had all agreed on from the beginning. This class, and things in our lives that we have really shown us that video games can have a very positive effect of children, the information we found was just icing on the cake.

16 and Pregnant and Teen Mom Bad For America

There are many aspects of pop culture that have had a bad rap, in my opinion MTV’s 16 and Pregnant and Teen Mom are one of those aspects. These two shows get a lot of heat for glorifying teen pregnancy. I would have to agree, however there are some redeemable qualities about these shows.

Teen Birthrates Up in 26 States, an article from USA Today said, “Sarah Brown, CEO of the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy…suggests that increases in high-profile unmarried births in Hollywood, movies and even politics are a significant factor for impressionable teens.” Unfortunately, this claim is hard to pin down, because it seems like there is nothing but opinion to back it up. This article was published in 2009, and according to Birth Rates for U.S. Teenagers Reach Historic Lows for all Ages and Ethnic Groups from the CDC published 2012, “The U.S. teen birth rate declined 9 percent from 2009 to 2010, reaching a historic low at 34.3 births per 1,000 women aged 15–19; the rate dropped 44 percent from 1991 through 2010.” Brown made these claims based on scattered incidents in Hollywood the same year that there was a dramatic decrease in teen pregnancy.

Perhaps this Teen Mom phenomenon is doing the exact opposite of what Brown claims. They are getting the word out there about what it is really like to take care of a baby, work, go to school, and be an adult before they are ready to. Maybe that is what is causing the decrease.

I have watched these shows, and there is one story in particular that really touches my heart. Caitlyn and Tyler chose to have their baby adopted by some distant family members. Them being chosen by MTV for Teen Mom was a good idea, because it defiantly shows a path that not many people would think about in that situation. Their story, even though it’s crazy and outlandish when it comes to their families shows. However even though there is this positive message, and information given to people who watch this show there is anger towards MTV, NewsBusters article 16 and Pregnant? No Big Deal said, “Studies showed watching MTV created a more liberal attitude toward pre martial sex. Teenagers who watch MTV receive messages about sex that are likely to sway their own behavior. So the network is guilty of originally helping to foster the situation and now for exacerbating it by normalizing and even glorifying teen pregnancy.” This is untrue. That is not the aim of 16 and Pregnant or Teen Mom, the idea is to get teens and their parents to start talking about the eventuality of sex. And that dialogue and having the right information will what makes the teen pregnancy rates drop.An article called Is MTV Making Pregnancy Cool? from Berkeley Political Review, “Teen pregnancy and abortion will continue to be hot button issues, but, above all, it is important for the next generation to be informed of the consequences of not practicing safe sex.”

There are people all over who will blame these shows for teens getting pregnant. But that just doesn’t seem to be the case. Yes, I would love to blame these shows because they are so sensationalized and trashy, but they are not the great evil.  

-zombiegirl

Drug Dogs

In class Austin and I found an editorial from the New York Times called, Sniffing Dogs and the Fourth Amendment, this article is an editorial, about a supreme court case in Florida concerning the the use of drug-sniffing dogs without warrants to perform searches through the walls of someones house. The article was well written, and there was a direct link to another article that had information about the case, Drug-Sniffing Dogs Have Their Day in Court as Justices Hear 2 Arguments. The article used the two cases that police drug dogs had been used to find marijuana growing in a residence, and the other was a man who had methamphetamine on him. The article's thesis was that the police should have had a warrant to use the dogs to find drugs. The article also had information about a prior supreme court case that had banned the use of  heat-seeking devices, Supreme Court of the United States. All of the evidence given was linked to the article. Which gave the article a strong foundation and a strong argument.
When we had first read the article, Austin disagreed with me (that the drug dogs should have been used). It was really interesting to see his mind change while we read the article and clicked on the links. Now we both agree that police should have a warrant before using the drug-dogs, because a tip does not seem to be enough of probable cause, to use the dogs.

I'm Googling Right Now.

             It is crazy how often people use Google, any question any one can ever think of can be answered through using Google. It is even a very now, but it is hard to try and cut down the string, to find what you are looking for faster. This is how you make a sting to find what you are looking for.Its pretty simple, all you have to do is find a good combination of words that are unique to what you are searching for.

                For the first image I searched, I typed in “I have never been a very useful member of the daughters of America”, and the first link things that popped up was Eleanor Roosevelt: Resignation from the Daughters of American Revolution, which did pull up the same letter, but it did not look like the picture I was looking for, so I then went to Google images, and wouldn’t you know it, Stellar Dreamer's was the very first picture to pop up from her blog. So I went back to Google, and tried "Eleanor Roosevelt unedited", but I didn’t really come up with anything with that. So I tried "Eleanor Roosevelt 1939", and there it was at the top of the page Exhibit: Eleanor Roosevelt Letter , this website was definatly the most credible source, no offense to Stellar, but this was a .gov, which means it is a credible source.

         
            For the next image I tried, "Background map", which was a complete failure, both for the regular Google search and also the Google images. Then I tried "America southeast background map arrested jailed and released", that didn’t work either. Then I tried "background map 9 arrested (may 17) and released Birmingham Alabama", that didn’t work either, I started to get frustrated. I finally found it when I typed in " Background map 306 jailed Jackson", the first two links were from Stellar Dreamer's blog, but the third one down was Virginia Memory: Freedom Rides Map. 1961. This page does seem credible, even though it is a .com, because under the “about us” section of the page it explains all about the establishment of the library, and what they have, and what they do.

           For the third image the first string I tried was "Police department of Montgomery j.f. flake", and the first two links that popped up again were Stellar Dreamer’s blog posts. So I went back to the drawing board. Then I tried "j.f. flake 12-1-55 in front of empire theater", and of course that did not work.  So I tried "montgomery police department 12-1-55 in front of empire theater", and that worked, I found Historical Thinking Matters which was the first link on the page. This page seems credible enough because it looks like it is a website for high school student to work with their teachers to understand historical thinking.

       
        For the last image I tried "roll call 88 congress house of representatives civil rights 1964", that did bring me to a Wikipedia page that contained the image I was looking for, but that was not good enough. So I tried  "house feb 1 0 1964", and I ended up finding it,  it was the third link from the top, HR 7152, which is an archived image. I do think this sight is credible because it is a .gov cite.

Well there you go, that is how you find what your looking for using key words to make a string for Google.
-zombiegirl

Snow White V.S. The Princesses

                                                                            V.S.

After watching the new movie Snow White and the Huntsman, I realized that the princess movies have a very conflicting message. This new movie was a completely different story then the Disney version made in 1937. For those who haven’t seen the original, Snow White sings to animals, meets seven dwarves in the forest after she had been chased through, by the huntsman who had to bring her heart to the queen to prove he had killed her. The queen eventually finds her, dressed as an old lady. The old lady gives her an apple that puts Snow White in a coma, and is only woken when Prince Charming kisses her, and they live happily ever after.

           The new version, without giving too much away, portrays Snow White a strong young woman who fights to save her kingdom, and even the evil queen has a back story that highlights her strength. This totally clashes with the original story, and even more widely the other Disney princesses.  And even wider than that, the dolls our little girls play with, Barbie’s, Brats, etc. 

I loved these movies when I was little, to me they were stories of girls who got lost or chased away, and were saved by Prince Charming and they lived happily ever after. Unfortunately I grew up and my views about life have changed, some more than others. But now there is this new, perhaps better, way to inspire young girls.

Now if you have ever taken a sociology class with Jennifer Jacobs, or if you have any super feminist friends,not that there is anything wrong with that, you know as well as I that certain people think that Disney is evil, and gives us a negative perception of what women should look like and how they should act. An article about this very topic is discussed in The New York Times book review, Is Pink Necessary?, the author of the article talks about Peggy Orenstein, the author of Cinderella Ate My Daughter, goes into great detail about the damage the Disney princesses are doing, and the huge profits they gain by doing it. Also saying "...the princess phase, at least in its current hyper-feminine and highly commercial form, is anything but natural..." This article was written in early 2011. Have things really changed that much in such a short amount of time? All of the claims about the princesses seem true, to some extent, but there seems to be a new trend in our movies that might be more positive.

New versions of princesses, like Princess Merida the main character in Disney Pixar’s Brave, are starting to change the "classical" princess persona. In an opinion article from Moviefone, Is Princess Merida of 'Brave' Disney's Best Female Role Model? (OPINION) it talks about this very comparison between Merida and the rest of the princesses Disney pops out. And it seems the new Snow White followed suit, and both are paving the way for more women in movies to kick ass and take names and not rely on men to be extraordinary.  And maybe this new generation of princesses will change the concept of what is beautiful. But for now that remains the same. 

But regardless of that changes that should be made, or if they ever will, this idea of a strong independent princesses, completely clashes with a long history of damsel in distress. But somehow I think it works. I mean it seems to reflect real life more accurately, because there isn’t just one way to be, you can be any of those things that these princesses embody. So yeah, depending on your beliefs and values you were raised with, one of those attributes could be totally wrong and taboo, but for someone else they could fit perfectly. Nothing is either black or white, there are so many variations of grey, and it is important to remember that.                                    -zombiegirl