Sports

The games that involve a ball in present day sports are: soccer, American football, rugby, basketball, volleyball and many more. Each country may have different names for each of these games, for example, some call it soccer other call it futbol/football. In the end they are all the same game, opposing teams trying to prove their skills with a round spherical looking object. Back in the period of the Mayans they had a game that was a combination of some present day ball sports, “sport had different versions in different places during the millennia, and a modern version of the game, ulama, is still played in a few places by the local indigenous population”(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mesoamerican_ballgame).
This Mesoamerican ball game, was usually mainly for ritual purposes, so it was directed towards the gods. The rules of the game are not known exactly but looking at the remains and the modern day version, ulama, it resembles racquetball or volleyball. The act of the game was to hit the ball with your hip, some places allowed use of limbs/forearms and racquets. The amazing thing was the fact that the ball was made out of rubber and weighed almost 4 kg, not a very light ball at all. Since these games were usually done in rituals there usually came a sacrifice with it. Through Mayan art, it can be seen when captives were taken they would play a “rigged” game and when losing the game they would be sacrificed to the gods. Funny, how our simple ball games could of evolved from a cultural game devoted to gods.

Water

Distilled water, is the simplest form of water you can get from the store. It is distilled and purified as in all additives society puts into it are “supposedly” taken out. When you hear about your water not being purified, then one begins to wonder, what about the air we breathe? With pollution going on everywhere right in front of your face, of course you aren’t breathing pure oxygen, the real O2. That is why some ingenious person came up with the idea of O2 bars.
The idea first came around in the 1990’s. The idea is to have bars where oxygen is used for recreational use.” Customers in these bars breathe oxygen through a plastic hose inserted into their nostrils.” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxygen_bar), and the funny thing is that these bars were expensive too. One begins to think if I wanted to pay to breath then I would be living in poverty all my life. They went beyond and added flavors to the air you breathed in at these bars too, so you had tangerine flavored, blueberry and so forth. Even though, some people way look at this and laugh, it really can be used in medical field, not for recreational use, “enhances health and well-being, including strengthening the immune system, enhancing concentration, reducing stress, increasing energy and alertness, lessening the effects of hangovers, headaches, and sinus problems, and generally relaxing the body” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxygen_bar). Maybe if they advertised the medical attributes the act of breathing in the oxygen would do, maybe it would catch on more. Today you do not see many oxygen bars around town. I wonder what is next, what other necessary act our body does that can be used for “recreational” use.

Tatto

Art, many things can fall under the category. Tattoo, is one of those things that falls under the category of art, some people refer to it as body art. Honestly in a way it is, because it takes skill to draw the designs tattoo artists; as they like to be called, print on the body of an individual. The act of tattoo is, “a marking made by inserting indelible ink into the layers of skin to change the pigment for decorative or other reasons.” In today’s world these markings are mainly for beautification and decorative matters.

Although it was not always like this, tattoo was another act done by tribes. Just like how animals have their tattoos for marking, tribes identified themselves by tattoo, either body or facial, “Tattooing was widespread among Polynesian peoples…” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tattoo). Another example is the people of New Zealand; they are country that still is inhabitant by the tribes. The people there tattoo their bodies at certain ages and each tattoo usually stands for an act or something.

Although through out history, the act of tattooing has been altered in many cases, one of them is the western use for body decoration. Other examples are the cosmetic use of tattooing on eyebrows, and such. Although it is seen as a sin in some culture for example in Islam tattoos are seen as an act of mutilating your body and damaging yourself. Just like piercing it is interesting to see how a simple act of cultural significance just becomes an act of decoration for random people, losing its cultural significance.

Piercing

Piercing is the act of cutting or puncturing part of the human body. Body piercing is a form of body modification. Usually, this is done after 3-4 months a baby is born, usually for females. It is done for jewelry reasons, at least in our culture. Archaeologists have found mummy remains with pierced ears implementing that even back then they would pierce the ear for jewelry, “ample evidence exists to document that it has been practiced in various forms since ancient times throughout the world” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Body_piercing). Although once individuals started piercing other places than the ear, it was influenced through tribal piercings. “Some people pierce for religious or spiritual reasons, while others pierce for self-expression, for aesthetic value, for sexual pleasure, to conform to their culture or to rebel against it.” And this attitude is what has run the drive for piercing in the nose, nipples, and other body regions (even genitalia).

In some native American tribes piercing was used in certain tribal rituals “the Crow ceremony, men who wished to obtain visions were pierced in the shoulders or chest by men who had undergone the ceremony in the past and then suspended by these piercings from poles in or outside of the Sun Dance Lodge.
“ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Body_piercing#Reasons_for_piercing). It is the western culture that mainly uses the ritual or act of piercing as show, or to basically change their appearance. Or else in majority of tribes of southeast Asia and such treat piercings as sings of maturation, or acts for the gods and such. It is amazing how a simple thing as a hole through the bodies flesh can mean so many things to so many different individuals.

Language

It was over a century ago, the only language you would find on signs would be English alone. Over the years the amount of immigrants increased and so with the increasing number of other cultures, it is no more than normal for the mother country to adapt and pick up the foreign language of its new inhabitants.

Now days as one walks down the street you will see every caution sign in English and after that definitely Spanish. Spanish is definitely going to be the second major language in the Americas, because the Hispanic group is one of the mast majorities of immigrants. The immigration of Hispanics is actually quite recent; “Hispanics first entered the tables in 1972, making up 1.1% of the USA's poor in that year. By 1996, Hispanics made up 2.7% of the nation's poor - almost equivalent to the Black figure” (http://www.usillegalaliens.com/immigration_facts_figures_and_addendum.html). The Hispanic immigrants more heavily populate some states than others, California is an example and other states pretty close to the Central Americans. There also are the Puerto Rican immigrants in New York.

Through out the years though other ethnicities have grown too, Asian immigrants got more after the war. Now you have such developments as china town, Korean town and little Tokyo. So it is only natural now days to expect at least multiple copies of a form in different languages, as well as in the job field it is a plus when someone understand more than one language. In some cases being multi lingual can get you paid more. So to be cultured is never a shame but an advantage.

Boost

Your working on a final paper, but your eyes start getting droopy and you yawn. You are tired and are in need of a major energy boost. Back in the day, one use to reach for the coffee maker and just make a cup of espresso, straight black coffee. Now, what you see most common is the Energy drink.

In advertisements, we are told that just having a can of one of these drinks will keep you up and motivated for up to 5-6 hours. What is left out is the major crash one gets after those 5-6 hours of hyper activity. Since we know it is usually caffeine that keeps a person up on their toes, what truly is in the so called “energy drinks”? Of course we have the needed caffeine, taurine, Guarna, B vitamins, ginseng, ginkgo Bilbao, L-carnitine (http://www.energyfiend.com/energy-drink-ingredients) and some others. These are the most common ingredients in all energy drinks they may be different flavor wise and sugars and other herbal ingredients they put into them.
All of these ingredient help stimulate the body and mind together, it is sort of like how coke use to be fore people. When one needed a sugar boost they would drink a bottle of coke and use the caffeine to hype them up, but now they actually took that concept and have developed a new line of sodas basically.

Aside from being energy drinks they have also been used as mixers with alcohol. Alcohol will bring your blood pressure down and slow down a person, so bartenders and such learned if you mix an energy drink with an alcoholic beverage the drinker would get double the rush, and not get as sluggish as fast, even thought that truly depends on the individuals alcohol intake. It is funny how a combination of all herbal and earthy materials with some caffeine can develop into such an addicting and much needed substance. Energy drinks are the cold version of coffee in the present day.

Docters

The medical field through out history has been occupied by one gender and one gender only. That gender has always been the males. Times are a changing, because there has been increases at the amount of females that have been entering medical school as well as the end product, female doctors have increase too. “Medical staffing could be nearing a crisis now that Britain, as well as Canada and the U.S., is producing more female medical school graduates than male” (http://www.businessweek.com/careers/workingparents/blog/archives/2008/04/women_doctors_w.html), this quite surprising because of the nature of females, one would think they could not afford to live like a doctor.

Yes the female is known as mother and has the maternal and nurturing instincts but yet they do not seem like enough for patients. The patients are still stuck on the classical conception of a middle-aged man with a white coat to be their doctor. “Society still expects women rather than men to reduce work commitments to look after children and not to return to full time work until the children are older…In addition, more female general practitioners plan to retire before the age of 60 than men, shortening their working life further”
9http://www.businessweek.com/careers/workingparents/blog/archives/2008/04/women_doctors_w.html). so since they have to be a mother and doctor, society rather have them be a better mother, so they will reduce their office hours to come home and take care of the kids. Not to say this is bad, but when you are a doctor your number one priority should be your patients. It is great that now females can reach the same great attributes as males but females have their natural instincts they need to follow as well, so they really may not be cut out to live as a full time doctor, mother and wife. There would be too much to sacrifice for women.

Toxic

I remember when I was in middle and highschool, we were not allowed to have highlighter, sharpie markers, and even liquid white out. I found it kind of weird, so I asked the reasoning behind the ban and was told it was because kids/students would sniff them.
“We took the lid off one of the pens and gave it a sniff, because we like the way Sharpies smell.” (http://boingboing.net/2008/04/14/8yearold-boy-suspend.html) of course people like the smell of sharpies, because it gives them a quick high. “inhaling toxic vapors is commonly referred to as 'Huffing' and it is against the law” and with sniffing sharpies and other objects like that it really is like sniffing toxic vapors because of what they are made of. Take this for example some one spraying a can of paint in a bag and then inhaling the spray/toxins in. It is another way to do narcotics. Some people do the illegal marijuana but why do that when you can buy legal items and use them as drugs. That is terrible, and surprising thing is that it is only illegal in some states to do such things as huffing markers and such. The even worse thing about this topic is that majority of people who do this are young children of the elementary years because they are more prone to use these objects. So sad to see simple utensils used at school projects to also be weapons of self damage that students do.

Secondhand Smoke

Next worst thing to smoking, is inhaling the smoke from the smoker. In some cases it has been seen it can be equivalent to smoking. The definition of secondhand smoke, “t is a mixture of 2 forms of smoke that come from burning tobacco: side stream smoke (smoke that comes from the end of a lighted cigarette, pipe, or cigar) and mainstream smoke (smoke that is exhaled by a smoker).” (http://www.cancer.org/docroot/ped/content/ped_10_2x_secondhand_smoke-clean_indoor_air.asp).

Just being around a smoker, you might as well call your self a smoker as well, because “ Non-smokers who breathe in secondhand smoke take in nicotine and other toxic chemicals just like smokers do. The more secondhand smoke you are exposed to, the higher the level of these harmful chemicals in your body.” (http://www.cancer.org/docroot/ped/content/ped_10_2x_secondhand_smoke) -clean_indoor_air.asp). It is actually the passive smoker that will get the toxins more than a the actual smoker, because the smoker has exhaled them and you breathe it into your system, “Secondhand smoke is classified as a "known human carcinogen" (http://www.cancer.org/docroot/ped/content/ped_10_2x_secondhand_smoke) -clean_indoor_air.asp).

So next time you are next to a smoker, ask them to put their cigarettes out, or move yourself as far as you can. In some cases you may not be able to, such as in restaurants. Some states are still fighting to get no smoking signs installed in more public places and have it enforced more to. IUPUI campus is an example it wasn’t till last year that the no smoking signs were actually installed and enforced more. Yet, people still do not abide by it, and will stand right next to the sign and smoke. It is very selfish, if the smoker does not care bout their own health then they should about others and not smoke around others.

Tuition

It is amazing how much the cost of education has become lately. Over the past few years the tuition for schools have been doing nothing but increasing. Why have they been increasing, does it means they have more to offer the students? That would be a big NO. Schools now only take money but do not give the same extent of education that the students pay for. Sometimes an individual wonders if I am paying so much why shouldn’t I go to a private school, where the money really is equal to the value of education and attention the school staff will give me.
In majority of public state schools you have your normal school tuition, then you have your room and board fees and then on top of that you will have your books and technology fees. For example ate IUPUI, you get the basic undergraduate fee, which goes straight towards the school. On top of the tuition fee you have your separate school fee, such as Kelley school of business and etc each have a separate fee. Then you have your per credit hour fee you have to pay and lastly you will have your “general fee” as they call it. One wants to truly sit down and investigate on all these charges that these schools give to us. If you ask a financial staff member they will tell you its for your class, but ok what if the teacher never uses what the fee covers? It would be a total rip off. “Average tuition and fees at four-year public colleges rose 6.6 percent this year, again outstripping increases in financial aid and pushing students into more borrowing.” (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21420361/ns/business-personal_finance/) the above picture represents all the heavy loans and debt that schooling is doing to the students of the new world. In high school we thought our books were heavy, but now university has put more weight on our backs than those books ever did. The solution was to go to two-year colleges, but even they have raised their prices as well, “ Prices at two-year colleges, which educate about half of American college students, rose 4.2 percent to $2,361.” (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21420361/ns/business-personal_finance/). School needs to be a privilege and not a burden for someone, with the increasing prices of schools; you do not see an increase of aid for the students at all. So, next don’t wonder why so many Americans choose not to go to college after high school.

Health Care

The most recent topic of debate in the news has been the idea of universal health care in the United States. “At least 15% of the population is completely uninsured” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_care_in_the_United_States)that is amazing that in one of the worlds richest countries, the citizens do not have health care to help them with their illnesses. The reasoning behind this dilemma is because; health insurance here is done by separate organizations. It has become a business to see who has the most affordable to take care of a humans health. The U.S spends the most on the health care area yet has one of the highest infant mortality rates. Something is not right here.

Since when did a person’s life become a money value? Surprising thing is that even the highest paid individuals sometimes still can’t afford the health care. In this society one either needs to be below poverty to receive the best health care or be above and beyond rich. The funny thing is that just above being high in the amount of uninsured citizens there are even more underinsured individuals. Underinsured means they pay the money but still do not get the full service. For example, for just a visit to tell your doctor you are feeling ill you pay 20 dollars then, to actually get a diagnosis you have to pay another amount. It is just ridiculous how severe the requirements for Medicaid are and if the insurance companies find out you have even a little money they will charge you insanely. So maybe universal health care may not be the best for this society but some type of health care reform needs to be done, so American citizens can be better taken care of.

ADHD

Attention deficient/ hyperactivity disorder, or shortly known ad ADHD, is a mental disorder in which one cannot focus. The problem with this disorder is that people, mainly children have been misdiagnosed over the past few years. The danger doesn’t come from the misdiagnosis but the treatment for the disorder is very harmful. The number one drug was/is aderral. Aderral tends to have very risky side effects and on a child it is more likely to have a drastic affect.

The mis diagnosis always happens at the young age. Parents have always heard the symptoms of ADHD “have a hard time paying attention, daydream a lot, not seem to listen, be easily distracted from schoolwork or play, be in constant motion or unable to stay seated, squirm or fidget…” (http://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/adhd/facts.html). They put such symptoms upon a child that is in the prime years, such as 4-7. Of course children at that stage will squirm a lot not listen and such. So, quickly to relieve themselves from the stress of dealing with their children, parents quickly as for a diagnosis of ADHD and the drug. What they do not realize is the long-term affect the drug will have on their child.

It is very sad to see that parents would be so willing to give their children such a drug to just relieve themselves from the trouble of dealing with their own offspring’s childhood years.

Facebook

Do you remember when one could just look up a person in the yellow pages or white pages and find their phone number? Yeah, times have changed now. It all started with the creation of MySpace, but after a few years a more private, safe and specific site in the same genre began. It was called face book. It was at first targeted towards university students, and you would have to join by first entering your school and from an invite from another person, “Face book was founded by Mark Zuckerberg in February 2004, initially as an exclusive network for Harvard students.” (http://www.crunchbase.com/company/facebook). It became a hit after only 2 weeks. So mark decided to open it up to more people, “Zuckerberg immediately recruited his friends Dustin Moskowitz and Chris Hughes to help build Face book, and within four months, Face book added 30 more college networks.”

Zuckerberg arrived at the name face book from something that was done at his high school, “The Exeter Face Book was passed around to every student as a way for students to get to know their classmates for the following year. It was a physical paper book until Zuckerberg brought it to the Internet.” Since nothing no longer is done on paper, Mark was smart to put it up on the Internet. It truly is a very handful tool. One can find their friends from school any where from any time. Unlike MySpace it is a lot safer and more careful on the people who are members and have advertisements on their sites. So even though it had started as a university tool, it did open up to high schoolers “opening up to high school students in September 2005 “. No one needs the paper yellow pages or white pages. Even business can have a page on face book too. It is amazing how one project turned into a multi million/billion dollar company.

Diabetes

The one of the growing medical condition in America has been diabetes. More specifically, type 2 diabetes. There are two distinct types of diabetes. You have the juvenile/type 1 diabetes, which is the deadly type of diabetes. Juvenile diabetes is one which your pancreas cannot produce insulin. Insulin is the hormone that allows for the uptake of glucose from the blood. So if your body is unable to do this act, the blood glucose levels in your body increase because of the build up of glucose. So, the proper amount of energy cannot be supplied to your body, so the feeling of hunger increases. This is one reason you also see a lot of obese people with diabetes. Although, you do not see a lot of type one/ juvenile diabetes diagnosed. The most common is type 2.

Type 2, also known as insulin dependent, is the more common diabetes found among people. Where as in type one, insulin wasn’t produced. Type two diabetes, insulin is produced but the cells do not react to it correctly. So since no sugar will be stored as sugar, the pancreas would get the message to continue producing insulin. So since there will be no sugar put forth towards the tissues, there will be a build up of sugar in the blood. Therefore it would lead to hyperglycemia and high levels of insulin too. “Type 2 diabetes usually occurs gradually. Most people with the disease are overweight at the time of diagnosis” (https://health.google.com/health/ref/Type+2+diabetes), having said this, as a treatment of type 2, diet and eating correctly is the best way to cure or control the diabetes. Where as for type 1 diabetes, diet and exercise helps you control it but sometimes it leads to having insulin pumps and such forth because it needs to be regulate more than someone with type 2, because no insulin is produced at all. It is in type 1 patients you see insulin shots and insulin pumps hooked up to themselves.

Big Kids

Obese, as defined in the dictionary is: excessively fat. The excessively fat individual can be that due to his or her own wanting or truly because of medical reasons. The medical condition of obese is defined as: medical condition in which excess body fat has accumulated to the extent that it may have an adverse effect on health, leading to reduced life expectancy and/or increased health problems, (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Obesity). Other than it being a growing medical condition among Americans, it is majorly affecting the younger generation of Americans. The rate of obese children has gone up over the years.
The status of being over weight is figure out based on an individuals BMI (body mass index), which the persons height and weight are compared. “In 1999, 13% of children aged 6 to 11 years and 14% of adolescents aged 12 to 19 years in the United States were overweight. This prevalence has nearly tripled for adolescents in the past 2 decades.” (http://www.surgeongeneral.gov/topics/obesity/calltoaction/fact_adolescents.htm). Amazing how much of the younger children are already preparing themselves for a life filled with health problems, in the end shortening their life spans. We thought narcotics and such were the worst thing that could happen to our children, but the food that we are given is almost as bad in the long run. Due to this fast pace society we live in today, the best way to get a meal is to go through a drive thru and eat out of a paper bag. No one truly eats a healthy fulfilling meal any more. The choices now a days are either a taco from taco bell, greasy cheesy pizza from a pizza place, a burger made with meat from god only knows where and fries on the side dipped in nothing but pure fat oils. If parents truly loved their kids they would never allow their children to eat this way, but because they are too busy working that’s all they have the time to give/offer to their children. Another thing that the younger generation lacks is physical activity. Now days what do kids think as hanging out? To come over play video games, watch a movie or just watch TV. You never hear “ lets play a game of soccer, basket ball or go to the park and just walk” it is partly because of the technological advances we have as well as the safety rates have decreased over time as well. So basically the only treatment for obesity is to eat healthier and more physical activity in ones life.

Divorce

The number one person that gets hurt in the process of divorce is the child/children. The parents will be relived because they separate from each other, but do they think what it may do to the child? I mean I understand how the fighting and hitting and such that may happen during being together may affect the child as well, but studies have shown that it is usually the child that feels at fault for the divorce.

The affect of divorce on a child is really dependent on the parents as well, “ children's psychological reactions to their parents' divorce vary in degree dependent on three factors: (1) the quality of their relationship with each of their parents before the separation, (2) the intensity and duration of the parental conflict, and (3) the parents' ability to focus on the needs of children in their divorce.” (http://www.mediate.com/articles/psych.cfm#effects). So the extreme cases you hear about a child from a divorced family falling into drug usage, alcoholism, and depression are usually cases in which the above factors were disrupted in some way. Aside from factors over relationships, boys and girls both take the effects of divorce differently as well. Boys tend to act out their frustration and anger, so cause trouble in school and so forth. Girls on the other hand tend to internalize their feelings, so may become depressed change their sleeping/eating habits and so forth.

Not only bad comes out of a divorce, some good can come out of it too. Usually a single parent can/will focus more on their children and so will be closer to their kids. If the parents remarry it would give the child just more adult support. Although, all of this really depends at the age group the child is in. In certain stages/periods of a Childs life it may be harder to accept another person as a mother/father and to adjust to the changes. In the end though a divorce just helps the child more than harm, “when parents can control their conflict, the children can experience freedom from daily household tension between parents.”

School

Parents always worry, is the school my child is in good for them or not? The on going fight between public school and private school and whom offers better education and schooling for the children in the nation, is simple. The type of school is not what decides which is better, but rather the individual child.

“Many of us believe, hands-down, that private schools are better than public schools.” (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8743221), it has been shown through movies, and propaganda that private schools have the elite of the teachers and the most to offer for a child. Although recent studies by a husband and wife, Sarah Thuele and Christopher Lubienski, have disproven the myth. “Found that when they controlled for a family’s socioeconomic background, public-school kids slightly outperformed private-school kids.” I think this is due to the fact that in private school it is all about money and whom is better than the other, where as in public schools the teachers truly care for their students, and since they are not obligated by money to be there the children truly want to learn.

“The researchers warn that this study says nothing about a specific school. But it is reassuring to know that overall public-school education should not necessarily be seen as second-rate compared to private schools.” (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8743221). So, when a parent is going through the process of finding the perfect school they should take each school for a test run, sort of like how you would a car.

Capital Punishment

Capital Punishment also known as, the death penalty/sentence. This has been an issue in the American judicial system for longest time. The death penalty can be dated all the way back to Hammurabi’s time period, “date as far back as the Eighteenth Century B.C. in the Code of King Hammurabi of Babylon, which codified the death penalty for 25 different crimes. “ it was first used mainly in the European countries and found its way to the Americas when the European settlers came by. They enacted the death penalty here in the Americas. “In the early 1960s, it was suggested that the death penalty was a "cruel and unusual" punishment, and therefore unconstitutional under the Eighth Amendment”. Over the years there were cases where the decision of death penalty was questions for example Trop v. Dulles and so in some cases they began to fine tune the sentence a little, such as in U.S. v. Jackson. In the end it was suspended but over the years it was reenacted and then suspended. So since there has been such a split view on this topic, state judicial systems have split as well. If you look at the states in the present there are some places where they still pass the death sentence, close to over half of the United States allow for the death sentence to be practiced.

What constitutes an act to be of capital punishment? “The New York Colony instituted the Duke's Laws of 1665. Under these laws, offenses such as striking one's mother or father, or denying the "true God," were punishable by death.” (http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/part-i-history-death-penalty), but over the years it changed around. So now since capital punishment is only allowed in certain state, capital crimes are different state by state. For example, “Arizona. First-degree murder accompanied by at least 1 of 14 aggravating factors, Kansas. Capital murder with 8 aggravating circumstances” (http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/crimes-punishable-death-penalty), which makes it very difficult it seems. So, an individual can do one act in one state and not be trialed for it, but in another it could be illegal. It just seems to be unfair and unequal if the judicial system is like this. It is still an on going discussion, we have our federal criminal crimes and then our state, and there is a difference. Over the years our number of death row has gone down, but it may be rising again.

Most Important Meal of the Day

The number one meal of the day, the most important meal of the day seems to always be missed by people. Breakfast, the most delicious meal of the day, which can range from coffee with toast and jelly to a heart healthy meal of eggs, ham, sausage, hash browns and pancakes/waffles. That there describes 3 meals in one. Breakfast, is the combination of “break and “fast”, basically it is referring to the breaking of the fast you have been doing from the last meal you had the day before.

Studies have shown that individuals that eat a full healthy breakfast will have a more accomplishing day. “Skipping breakfast interferes with students’ cognition and learning9 “ (www.healthylausd.net/PDFs/NNM_Resource_Kit.../Breakfast%20Stats.pdf). This is very true, and is becoming a growing trend among children of our generation. Due to the fact of school starting early and going to bed late, people wake up late and so don’t have time to sit down and eat a complete breakfast. “Children who eat a complete breakfast, versus a partial breakfast, make fewer mistakes and work faster in
math and number-checking tests.”(www.healthylausd.net/PDFs/NNM_Resource_Kit.../Breakfast%20Stats.pdf) So even just a piece of toast is not good enough, one has to eat enough at breakfast to fulfill your hunger.

So next time you leave the house and your stomach growls do not ignore it, really take the time to feed and nourish your body. You need your body and mind to function well through out the day and live life to the fullest.

Thearapy

Therapy is another form of treatment of certain medical diagnosis. Therapy can be done in many forms, just by talking, physical, psychological and etc. The one that I found most interesting was pet therapy. In certain areas of the hospital they will use, pets, usually dogs for therapeutic use. Dogs are said to be mans best friend, but these dogs are not just your usual house hold dog, they have to go through schooling and training. Just like how a child brings joy into a household, the affection a dog shows to an individual while they are in the process of recovery is very helpful. The dogs are basically just used as a form of entertainment for the patient. The therapy is really to see how the patient would interact with animals, or non-human creatures. It is a very fun and effective form of therapy. The dogs also assist outside of rehabilitation wards of hospitals. They also go to house visits. The defining characteristics need to be a therapy dog is “ most important characteristic of a therapy dog is its temperament. A good therapy dog must be friendly, patient, confident, at ease in all situations, and gentle. Therapy dogs must enjoy human contact and be content to be petted and handled, sometimes clumsily.” There are also specific breeds of dogs that would make better therapy dogs than other breeds, such as golden retrievers, Labradors and other more family orientated dog breeds. All dog breeds can be therapeutic it just takes some training.

Tanning

Tanning is when one wants to increase the skin tone of your body. An estimated 30 million North Americans turn to tanning salons as a controlled alternative to outdoor tanning. What individuals do not think about when going forward with this tanning, is skin cancer. Yes, our body needs the vitamin D given off by our sun, but nothing can replace it, especially not a UV light bulb. The only things they give off are more UV rays close to the human skin, and therefore increasing the risk to skin cancer. Skin cancer can be caught by the sun’s rays as well, but only if you tan frequently, under the sun and still not as easily as the tanning bed because the sun rays are not as close to you as the rays given off by the lights. “Women who use tanning beds more than once a month are 55 percent more likely to develop malignant melanoma, the most deadly form of skin cancer” (http://www.cancer.gov/newscenter/tip-sheet-tanning-booths). This cancer can be prevented in what way? Avoiding tanning booths, rather than going to tanning salons, try spraying tanning/mystique tans, and if no artificial sun UV is used definitely wear sunscreen always, and routinely go and get your skin checked out.

Fear

Fear according to dictionary.com is: a distressing emotion aroused by impending danger, evil, pain, etc., whether the threat is real or imagined; the feeling or condition of being afraid. There are so many different fears, in different ways. To have a distinct fear of a certain area/subject is to have a phobia. Some examples of phobias are: arachnophobia-fear of spiders, acrophobia-fear of heights and many more. We are biologically born with fear, because fear is just another reflex we have. “Basic survival mechanism occurring in response to a specific stimulus, such as pain or the threat of danger.” for example we are scared of things that would cause us death, or the risk of injury is too high. Fear is usually built on certain activities that have happened, so in a way it is also incorporated with our memories. Just how a movie may remind us of a good/bad moment in our lives, or a smell brings forth a good memory of a grandmother; fear can also be developed in that way. So, lets say when you were little you almost drowned, now you fear to go swimming in deep waters, it is a combination of our memory and our reflexive stimuli of trying to stay alive. A more accurate fear of reflexive fear is when one fears, to go in to a dark infested cave of poisonous critters. The fears in which our built on certain events in ones past would be closer related to phobias, not all but majority. Some phobias are just psychological such as fear of being in crowded places, or being claustrophobic, these fears are not really from an event but just abnormalities in ones brain. Fear is a very tricky emotion.

Laugh

Have you ever laughed so hard that you cried? Well that is great; you have done your cardio work out for the day. Laughing is definitely one of the best exercises ever, the saying of “ laugh away the pain”, really does work. Laughter can be equivalent to exercise, “Vigorous laughter increases the heart rate deepens the breathing rate, and uses muscles in the face, stomach, and diaphragm.” So here you have an improvement in mood, and building muscle as well as some cardio exercise on the side. Who would of thought a simple activity that is brought on by joy could help keep an individual healthier. In the religion of Buddhism there is even a god devoted to laughing, he is called the laughing man/Buddha. The representation of this Buddha is, a big Fat joyous man. It is said that because he is so happy and laughs so much he is fat. So this goes along with the idea that if you laugh, it keeps you healthy and nourished. The human brain does not really have a designated area in the brain devoted to laughing rather, it is a combination of multiple things, “The areas of the brain involving in understanding why a joke is funny are the area mainly located towards the back of the frontal lobes. Parts of the limbic system are also involved in understanding of a joke: limbic system is the primitive part of the brain that is involved in emotions” (http://healthmad.com/health/fun-facts-about-laughing/). So, there are many ways that laughter can be acted. It is also believed that laughter is and ancient act of respiration and so that is where the phrase of “ha-ha” came from. So next time you feel down, in pain or anything just sit and watch a humorous movie and laugh away the pain, anger and depression.

2012

It has been predicted that the world comes to an end on December 21, 2012. It was seen on a Mayan calendar, “The Great Cycle of the Mayan Long Count calendar ends on the winter solstice of 2012 A.D.”, that has been translated to the end of the world. The Mayan calendar has been correct about majority of other predictions. The Mayan calendar said that from 1999 we would have 13 years to realize the changes one needs to make to the world better. The calendar does not literally predict that the world is coming to an end, it states “They say that coming changes will permit us to make a quantum leap forward in the evolution of our consciousness to create a new civilization that would manifest great harmony and compassion to all humankind.” basically it is saying it will be a new beginning, and new advancements. When looking analytically at the perdiction, one sees their prediction that it is going to be a leap year, in which 2012 is one, and it says quantum, which means mechanics and new machines. So obviously it is going to be a leap of technology and not the end of the world.
The Mayan calendar, says 7 years after 1999, the world would enter a stage of darkness, where we would have to confront our own conducts. There was a solar eclipse on august 11,1999 and this eclipse marked the beginning of this time period. The interpretation researches have come up with does not really seem correct, the calendar even says that it is a time of coming changes to bring forth a new civilization, not the end of the world, but a new beginning.

Gamble

The seven deadly sins, lust, gluttony, sloth, greed, envy, wrath and pride. The one that everybody finds the worst is greed, gambling falls into this category. Once one wins in gambling they cannot get enough of it and keep wanting more and more. Gambling is the act of wagering money or something of material value on an event with an uncertain outcome with the primary intent of winning additional money and/or material good. Gambling can just be created as well; a simple bet is a form of gambling. The racetrack, car races and most definitely the city of sin las Vegas, these are all places gambling can be done and found. Gambling though it gives an individual a rush, it can also make one lose everything they have. Gambling is very addictive, there are different forms of gambling, there is pathological or compulsive. Recent studies have shown “about 2.5 million adults in America are pathological gamblers and another 3 million of them should be considered problem gamblers, 15 million adults are at a risk for problem gambling and about 148 million are low-risk gamblers.” (http://www.clearleadinc.com/site/gambling-addiction.html), that is amazing how large of a number it has affected. Among gambling other problems come along with it and also race is a factor in gambling addiction too,” problem drinkers are more likely to have a gambling addiction problem. Gambling addiction is seen more among Caucasian Americans than African Americans and Hispanic Americans.” (http://www.clearleadinc.com/site/gambling-addiction.html).

Download

Pirating, or illegal downloading of music more than movies has and still is a major problem in the world. Since the new release of mP3 players, music can easily be pirated online. We all remember the downloading site Napster, where you would download albums easily. More and more pirate sites have been found and have been asked to legitimize their downloads, by asking for payment. Examples of such sites would be the classical napster, and ITunes. ITunes never was a pirate website, but people still could download songs easily by sharing files, but now with compatibility issues it is hard to do so. The system has been catching on to more and more illegal download and pirate sites. Even radio streaming sites are becoming harder to get in touch with. Take Pandora for example, before you could easily stream non-stop, but now you have a limited amount of time you can spend streaming on their site. Finally after close to a decade of illegal downloading and leaks across the internet the music industry is a little more relaxed, since pirating their music is becoming less and less able to do. Websites have started to put charges on everything now and so it has turned a lot of people over to using itunes versus illegal pirate sites or to just buy the cd themselves.

Sleep

Sleep, is the number one thing to keep one healthy and happy, but in today world one can not find the time to truly sleep the required amount. “a number of vital tasks carried out during sleep help maintain good health and enable people to function at their best.”, ( medicinenet.com) which is very true studies have proven that sleep is not just a block of time where you are not awake. Actually, your body is still functioning in sleep still and just rejuvenating for the day to come. “Most adults need 7-8 hours of sleep each night. School-aged children and teens need at least 9 hours of sleep a night.” The hours stated above are the hours we have to sleep, the hours our body needs to go through to function properly, but seems to be we never get the right amount. Especially for our school aged children, the 7-9 hours they should get never is achieved, and it is due to the fact that schools do not properly schedule their times correctly. Classes start at 7:30/ 8 and then get out at 3, and usually children should go to bed by 9 but never do because they have to do their homework. I do not blame the school system, it is partly the child fault as well because they procrastinate but it can be fixed, by starting schools later. As for adults, the lack of sleep affects an individuals mood and health. A lot of depression could be due to the fact of not enough sleep, same goes with stress and for health risks, increases the risk of having high blood pressure, heart disease, and other medical conditions. During sleep your body releases some hormones, such as the growth hormone, which fuels growth in children, so if a child is not sleeping enough, or the biological time needed then they will not grow to their greatest ability, they will be weak, and their immunity will be weak to and get sick a lot. So to stay healthy and strong, one should definitely get the recommended amount of time, just make some sacrifices in your daily life, to guarantee a longer life.

Egg

Invitro fertilization, is when an egg is fertilized out side of the womb due to the fact that the individuals are infertile. The process is removing the ovum from the female, and letting the sperm fertilize it in a fluid medium. Then after, the fertilized zygote is transferred from the tube into the females uterus and it is there, that hopefully the zygote goes through a successful pregnancy, The first successful test tube baby was done in the year of 1978. The rates of successful births are, according to a French study estimated that 66% of patients starting IVF treatment finally succeed in having a child (40% during the IVF treatment at the center and 26% after IVF discontinuation). There are risks that come along with such a beautiful miracle. The main risk that comes along with IVF, is multiple births, due to the fact that there are embryo transfers, it could lead to multiple births. Another question individuals have are, what bout birth defects, could such a process affect the babies growth? “In 2008, an analysis of the data of the National Birth Defects Study in the US found that certain birth defects were significantly more common in infants conceived with IVF, notably septal heart defects, cleft lip with or without cleft palate, esophageal atresia, and anorectal atresia; the mechanism of causality is unclear” so maybe it is better that one does not try to bear a child that would come out with difficulties in life. All in all, Invitro fertilization is a choice one has for cases in which you can not bear a child, it is up to the individual if they truly think it is right to do.

Stem Cell

In the medical field today, there are so many different disease, or abnormalities that have yet to be cured. There has come one solution/cure to some cases, which are stem cells. Stem cells are cells that are found in most multi cellular organisms. So what is so special about these cells, “the ability to renew themselves through mitotic cell division and differentiating into a diverse range of specialized cell types.” So in cases where an individual has dead cells this would really be helpful. There are two different types of stem cells you have embryonic and adult. The embryonic stem cells are the ones that are most wanted, because they can differentiate into all of the specialized embryonic tissue. Today some stem cell therapies can be seen, such as bone marrow transplant to treat leukemia, but it is still under research for treating other human diseases. Medical professionals hope to be able to use this to treat other disease such as, cancer, Parkinson's disease, spinal cord injuries, Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, multiple sclerosis, and muscle damage, but the human ethical issues always come in to play. Right now united states is one of the only countries not going through with stem cell implants, In majority of places in Europe it has become really successful, and the reason why it has yet to be passed in America is because it is seen as un ethical. The process of stem cell research is, destruction of a human embryo and/or therapeutic cloning. So pretty much you would have to kill an unborn human being to get some stem cell to research. Although, they have been working on other ways and have come up with a way of getting around he embryonic destruction. To take adult stem cells and manipulate them to create embryonic stem cells. So, we will just have to wait and see, could we be getting closer to curing the incurable cancer?

Depression

Depression has been a growing factor in the medical field. According to, http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/the-numbers-count-mental-disorders-in-america/index.shtml#MajorDepressive, about 14.8 million adults are affected by major depression disorders in America alone, this alone comes to about 6.7 percent of American citizens age 18 and older annually. That is vast majority of individuals to go through depression. A lot of people when seeing commercials like the one above, immediately think they have depression because of the stated symptoms they refer to in the commercials, “do you feel down and sluggish, do you think…” etc. This should never be the way to diagnosis one self with depression. You would think it would be safe to take these drugs if you don’t have the disorder, but actually these drugs could take you down the wrong path. If the drug was not correct for your condition it could increase the case of depression and even lead to suicide. For this reason, the diagnosis of a disorder really has to be followed by the symptoms given in the infamous DSM-IV book, and under the care of a professional medical physician. Sure we all have our down days but true depression is a mental chemical imbalance of hormones in your body. So some of those diagnosed as depression cases may just be following what the commercials say and think they have depression, there is no true way of knowing.

Cave Man

“So easy a cave man can do it” the common saying for the geico commercials, this commercial brings up the unsolved history of man’s evolution. The question still remains did we evolve from caveman? Through archeological finds such as old bone remains, fossils of footprints and so forth, we know that bipedalism probably started somewhere around 2 million years ago. The footprints in the ground at Kenya found this fact, and then there was the finding of Ardi one of the earliest bipedalists they have found, from about 4.4 million years ago. The first thought was, “homonin speciate from the ancestors of the gorillas.” which is partly truly because you can see common traits between the two species, but the process of our advancement is still being researched. After the Hominin came the Homo habilis and homo erects but the one that archeologist have found the most genetic similarity is the homo antecessor,” Homo antecessor, the common genetic ancestor of humans and Neanderthal.[15] At present estimate, humans have approximately 20,000–25,000 genes and share 99% of their DNA with the now extinct Neanderthal [16] a" this was found around 560,000 years ago. This shows we are getting close to the anatomical modern human. The best and most familiar finding of ancestral remains was the finding of homo heidlebergensis, found in northern parts of Europe, around 355,000 years ago. Heidelbegensis shows traits both from Neanderthals and Homo sapiens, and that is only possible through the act of mating. So cross breeding between species occurred around they’re as well as migration from Africa and in the end all adding to evolution of man. So we could possibly be evolved by the caveman species, but it is still under research.

Trojan

A growing problem in the teenage age group for the last few years has been, teenage pregnancy. Shows like 16 and pregnant, show teens still in high school that have had sex and wound up pregnant. A 16 year old can barely take care of them what makes them think they could handle another human being, let alone a child. The problem here is the lack of proper sexual education. The teens now days are not given the proper amount of sexual education they need, as well as the easiest access to protection for sex. In some states things like birth control, and condoms can be given out for free at clinics, even high schools. According to, http://www.livestrong.com/article/12504-teen-pregnancy-rates-usa/, there are over 750,000 unplanned teen pregnancies annually. Other than condoms being able to protect from pregnancy, they also protect an individual from the STD categories, most importantly the HIV factor. A lot of teens now a days think they are invincible to the disease, and choose not to use condoms, In 2004, the CDC estimates that more than 18,000 young people, ages 13 to 24, were living with HIV/AIDS (in the
35 areas with confidential name-based HIV reporting); almost 5,000 were diagnosed in 2004 alone; representing 13% of all people diagnosed that year. So what ends up happening, the spread of HIV/AIDS, as well as other simple STDs such as herpes, warts, Approximately one in four sexually active young adults, ages 15 to 24, contracts an STD each year. All it takes is just a simple use of a condom, and you could save your own life as well as the life of a future child.

China

When looking at the label of any toy, electronic, or even our flag, we can see that everything is made in china. No, our flag really wasn’t made in china, here it is just an example for the telescope. Although, now a days you read the label of everything you buy, even “true American” products it says made in china, Pakistan, Malaysia etc.
So, is it truly American? If our products are being made in other countries we cant call it our own. This brings up the idea of cheap labor because that is really what it is about. American citizens demand the true American brands, but the labor workers in America are too expensive so what do companies do? They go out in to third world countries and find cheap labor. Children from 7 will be working factories, for companies like Nike, Tommy Hilfiger and other name brands we have in our stores. When I ran across this picture it actually made me think, could our flags really be made in china, because material to make it and labor workers may be cheaper there?

Drinking

DUI-Drinking under the influence, can refer to under the influence of drugs(narcotics) or alcohol. We are going to focus on Alcohol. Driving under the influence of alcohol has been a great problem within our streets for a while. Back in 1982, over 60% of the deaths occurring while driving were due to drunk drivers. Over the years it has seemed to go down, back in 2007 it was only 37 %. The decrease is probably due to the increase states have taken on the offense of driving while under the influence. “All 50 states in the US and Puerto Rico now apply two statutory offenses to driving under the influence of alcohol” (http://www.alcoholalert.com/drunk-driving-statistics.html). The second offense is illegal if the BAC is above .08%, the first offense is basically based on the officers interpretations when giving the individual the drunk test, speech, walking a straight line etc. Even though all states have these offenses, not all states put a lot of force on them and this is seen by the statistics of fatalities due to drunk drivers, texas still has 45% of deaths due to alcohol. The alcohol slows down an individual’s brain to perceive certain things and so their process of reflex would be slowed down. To truly state a crash is alcohol related only one of the drivers needs to have the alcohol blood concentration to be above .01 gram per deciliter. From friends I have heard many horrific near death experiences with drunk drivers on high ways, and still no police to be found. Even in some cases the police don’t even suspect the driver was under influence due to the fact the driver was a certain age.

Speakers

You are driving down the street and you feel a slight vibration through your car, it is the bass from the neighboring vehicle and no music. One begins to wonder is there any way of capturing the bass and rather than expressing it out to the public, keeping it within your own vehicle and feel the bass/sub. The sacrifice one makes is either you have to turn the volume low and the bass on high to actually feel the music, but then the music is gone and all you hear is the vibration. It would be really nice to have a speaker/sound system for a vehicle that could simply play your music at a volume loud enough that the sub can be heard but not too loud to make the driver deaf or the neighboring cars vibrate as well.

Video Phone

Usually the only way one can physically talk and see a family member, friends or significant other at the same time was to web cam with the other. The times have changed and with advancement of camera phones (cell phones with cameras), land lines now have the same ability. Although it is different than your average picture cell phone, land line camera phones act like a web cam, with out the internet delay. They have also added the ability to txt message over the house phone as well. We went from wired hand sets to wireless handset land line telephones, and now we have wire less land phones that can act the same as your expensive advanced cellular phones.

Phone

Since the invention of wireless hand held telephones there has been a myth that they would increase an individuals chance of getting cancer. In the case of cell phones mainly brain cancer. It is mainly focused towards heavy cell phone users. It is said that the waves exerted from the speaker of the phone causes build up of un wanted mass in the brain, which eventually would lead to brain tumors and if not taken care of soon enough brain cancer. We could only say how worse it has gotten over the years since the new improvements of cell phones. Cell phone companies have taken precautions and new preventative gadgets have been made, such as devices that you can put on the ear pieces of the phone to reduce the strength of the waves exerted by the phone. The improvement of txt messaging could have been another preventative move as well.

Sit

According to an article I read on http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/454331/continually_sitting_down_may_cause.html?cat=51 sitting all day could cause health problems. Since many Americans have office jobs they usually sit a majority of the day. According to the article standing when watching TV, talking on the phone, or typing at the office would help you burn calories more then exercising for 30 min 5 times a week. That study was conducted by the University Missouri-Columbia.We can reactivate our fat-burning enzymes by simply standing and moving around just a little instead of sitting all of the time. The study showed that the metabolic rate can be doubled just by standing. If you think about all the benefits of standing while at a job you usually sit all day, it is surprising why many jobs don't recommend employees to stand for some of the time during work. That would likely benefit many peoples health and decrease the cost of medical insurance.

Drinks

When I ran across this picture, it started to make really think about what really are in those drinks? Sure in this picture it is only a lemon putting in the lime twist flavor in I understand that, but the action of urination really does make sense. The action of urination/waste really shows how terrible the ingredients of these drinks can be. The labels may write natural flavor, but one has to really read the labels. When you take a closer look you will notice the 36 mg of phosphorus in it, the amount of caffeine and even the diet you have the artificial sugars that a even worse for the human body. The advertisement here for a new flavor through the act of a lime urination really does show the wasted ingredients of a soft drink.

Run

It is amazing how many different actions it takes for our body to accomplish one task. In this picture you see a runner prepare, and then shoot off , but when just seeing him in action you see one big push off, but as this picture shows it broken down the body is not as fast. The body needs multiple actions to fulfill our daily routines. It is seen as the runner pushes off from the ground with his hand, he uses his legs to elevate and upper body moves forward, to build the momentum. Then gradually but surely he brings up his body, neck and face. Aside from the body you also then have the arms being moved from forward to back and hands from clenched to open. The line of static also shows how in the start of our action it is very disorganized but in the end it turns to one unified line, just like how our actions become regular in the end. The biomechanics of our body is many little pieces that in the end become one, big act.

Fit

Exercise, physical fitness and activities can start at any age. Although, starting out young would be best to do, why because it would make a child stronger and allow them to grow to their full potential. This picture shows a young child doing a one armed push up. It allows one to question if just nutritional food will help the child truly grow up big and strong. Let alone, from children to adults it is not just food that will allow an individual to get strong, but physical activity of all sorts helps a child build muscle and grow to their full potential. Who knows a child like the one presented in the picture maybe able to do push ups with just a finger in a couple of years.

Smoke

Smoking is still a big issue today, a lot of places you go still don’t have no smoking areas or signs. In the state of Indiana the health department is still trying to get more resturaunts and public places to provide more non smoking areas. The response the resturaunts, bars and other places give is the fact that it would ruin and damage their business. This reasoning shows that people rather die than lose their income. The government believes it to be too expensive to put up more smoking band signs, yet according to http://usgovinfo.about.com/od/medicalnews/a/smokingcosts.htm, the US spends close to 92 billion dollars a year on smoking deaths. So, you would think that it would save money on the other hand if they did put up no smoking signs and more restrictions to where you can smoke. ““Cigarette smoking continues to impose substantial health and financial costs on individuals and society,” said CDC Director Dr. Julie Gerberding in a press release.” (http://usgovinfo.about.com/od/medicalnews/a/smokingcosts.htm,), smoking seems to cause nothing more than harm to soceity, economy and the citizen. There needs to be more restrictions put on the act of smoking, the numbers have decreased over the years, but there is still a lot to be done to greatly minimize the number of smokers.

Earth

I looked up meteor defence when I saw this picture and it lead me to this site http://www.mbda-systems.com/mbda/site/ref/scripts/EN_Meteor_123.html. This is a piece of the article I found.
“METEOR is being developed to meet the requirements of six European nations for a superior Beyond Visual Range missile system with the operational capability to excel in all current and future combat scenarios. It is being integrated on Europe’s major platforms, Eurofighter Typhoon, Gripen and Rafale. It also has the potential to add to the air-to-air capability of other combat platforms including the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. The METEOR programme sees the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Sweden joining together in order to provide access to technology and expertise across Europe.”
This actually doesn’t have anything to do with meteor defense for earth but it does show that countries are getting ready for the advance in military technology of the future. It also show that there is really good cooperation between soon European countries.

Speech Recognition

When I found this picture I was looking for digital music it this came up. When I was looking at this picture it reminded of voice recognition on my computer so I decided to look it up and I came to this website http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC40735/?page=1. It talked about the advances of speech recognition and how it has advanced to understand 10,000 words and speaker independent continuous speech recognition is 1000 words. There will be plenty of advantages to being able to talk to your computer because it will lead to a more interactive world in the already information oriented society. Eventually after someone has perfected speech recognition more interactive robotics won’t be far behind.

Fight!

Saw this picture of what is suppose to be a cute penguin and found a dangerous looking critter. That made me think of how society has gotten more violent about things so they can attract more people. There are now 6 and a half million viewers to UFC a very violent sport (yet very cool) that has rose from people who love to see others beat down. But if you think about it since the beginning civilizations have always taken interest in others pain such as in Rome and the arena where gladiators had to fight to the death. Other civilizations they had slaves fighting for their entertainment over food.

Eye

I looked up eye transplants and came to a website http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/cornea-transplant/MY00491 describing what it was all about.

"A cornea transplant is a surgical procedure to replace part of your cornea with corneal tissue from a deceased donor. Your cornea is the transparent, dome-shaped surface of your eye that accounts for a large part of your eye's focusing power.
A cornea transplant can restore vision, reduce pain and improve the appearance of a damaged or diseased cornea. A cornea transplant, also called keratoplasty, is typically performed as an outpatient procedure.
Cornea transplant is the most common transplant operation performed in the United States. About 40,000 cornea transplants are performed each year, according to the Eye Bank Association of America."

After reading this I looked up the procedures of the operation. The first thing to be done is the eye is anesthetized so that the patient is calm and sleepy. They then clean the eye and put a drape over it. Surgery is then done using an Operation Microscope. The eye is kept open with stiches or a speculum. The corneal is then cut out from the donated eye, with a sugical equipment called a Trephine. The patients unhealthy cornea is replaced. The last thing done is the cornea is stiched to the patients eye with fine surgical thread.

Candy

I looked up digital candy and found a picture from Adidas. As you can see from the picture it is the color of a variety of fruity candy. That made me think that even companies that don’t sale food or snacks try to hook people on their products by drawing them in with that sweet addicting substance that most Americans eat daily. Advertisement is about getting people to take an interest in your product and with this picture and just the word candy it does that job successfully. There are people who don’t like candy very much but even then for those people they have a variety of color that could catch their eyes and would get them possibly interested in getting one of the watches.

TV

When I see this picture I think about how we use to only watch TV and how that has been changing in the recent years. Now at home is not the only place you can watch TV you can now do that in your car on your phone or on your laptop. Here is a piece of an article that I just read about TV and mobile devices.

“The Advanced Television Standards Committee (ATSC) announced on Friday that they've agreed on a standard that will let local TV stations broadcast directly to mobile devices on their existing frequencies. The devices that can be equipped to pick up the ATSC Mobile DTV signals include mobile phones, laptops, handheld TVs, and even in-vehicle digital TVs.”

This article is on http://www.tuaw.com/2009/10/17/the-future-of-tv-on-your-iphone-is-atsc-mobile-dtv/. This will make it so we are less constricted to the house just to watch something on TV which will hopefully encourage more people to leave the house and get around. This advancement will also contribute to more possible information to events that are happening in the local area.