MY HYPOTHESIS–SNOWMAN10

1. Renewable energy sources.

2. The impact of solar panel efficiency on renewable energy adoption.

3. Higher solar panel efficiency leads to increased adoption of renewable energy.

4. Solar panels with improved efficiency will contribute to a significant rise in the adoption of renewable energy sources.

5.The increased cost-effectiveness of high-efficiency solar panels will drive greater acceptance and utilization of renewable energy technologies.

6. Eliminating cost barriers for high-efficiency solar panels will lead to a widespread shift towards renewable energy in residential and commercial sectors.

I WOULD LIKE TO REPLACE MY 6 POINT WITH THIS NEW ONE.

6.Future advancements in technology may allow for the integration of high-efficiency solar panels into vehicles, such as cars and public transportation systems. This integration would offer convenience and sustainability benefits, reducing reliance on traditional energy sources and promoting renewable energy adoption. Solar-powered vehicles could lead to reduced fuel costs, lower emissions, and increased energy independence, driving further interest in renewable energy solutions.

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My Hypothesis—davidbdale

Talking Heads lyrics make absolutely no sense, and that is the point.

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Causal Essay — Entendu

More Drugs Less Crime

Making heroin more accessible will reduce crime rate among addicts.  That does not seem to make sense considering the possession and sale of the drug is illegal in the first place, however, it can take away the whole motive an addict has to commit crime.  Heroin costs money, and when someone is addicted all they can focus on is getting high.  Once they do not have  any money left to spend on the drug, they have to use alternative methods to get their fix, because no matter what, they will make sure they get their fix.  The easiest alternative method is shoplifts or burglary.  Crime rates will drop because heroin addicts will get their heroin for free and will not feel the need to steal to get their fix.

The prime goal of a heroin addict is to get high and when he does not, the addict experiences withdrawal.  Withdrawal will ruin that person’s life until he gets his fix.  The addict is tunnel-visioned and only sees using at the end.  There are no other paths and going backwards just means that he cannot get high and will experience all of the symptoms of withdrawal.  In his mind the only option is using and finds the quickest way to get money.  Robbery and shoplifting make for an easy high.  Since his crime ended up getting high, he will keep committing since he has an easy source of heroin now.  The overwhelming want, or even need of that drug can lead an addict to the point where even obtaining a secondary source to get the drug is enough motivation to shoplift even if he does not feel the need to get high or the effects of withdrawal at the time (Heroin Addiction and Crime).

A free heroin clinic provides an addict with the pure heroin and sterilized needles for free.  An addict simply has to provide evidence that he has previously tried to kick the habit.  The clinic will then let him get high a couple times a day for free and all he has to do is show up on time.  Considering their main motivation behind committing crimes is to get their fix, they have no need to burglarize anymore.  Giving the addict drugs is simply giving him time to not worry about how he is going to get high later.  All that it leads to is forward progress and stabilizing the addicts life.

The free distribution of heroin to addicts has shown to work in lowering crime rates among them.  One example is of Britain, who through their trial of free heroin, yielded astounding results among crime rate.  “The number of crimes committed by those in the group dropped from 1,700 in the 30 days before the program began to 547 in the first six months of the trial.(Faure)”  That is a very clear decrease in crime that speaks for itself.  The Danish free heroin clinic also cut crime to a third of what it was before among addicts (Wojcik).  These are clear examples of how free heroin clinics have properly worked.

Free heroin clinics can benefit addicts and people in a multitude of ways.  Lowering crime benefits both the community and the addict.  The addict’s main motivation behind the crimes he commits is to get high.  Taking away the difficulty of it to the point where they are handed their heroin takes away all the motivation behind committing crime.  Simply, heroin addicts will stop stealing because they will be receiving heroin for free.

Faure, Gaëlle. “Why Doctors Are Giving Heroin to Heroin Addicts.” Time. Time Inc., 28 Sept. 2009. Web. 07 May 2015.

Wojcik, Jeppe. “Heroin Clinics Improve Addicts’ Lives.” Sciencenordic.com. Science Nordic, 1 May 2012. Web. 08 May 2015.

Heroin Addiction and Crime.NeuroWiki 2013. University of Toronto, n.d. Web. 04 May 2015.

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+15–Cyphercomp2

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11737743

K, Okada, and Tazawa Y. “Result Filters.” National Center for Biotechnology Information. U.S. National Library of Medicine, Dec.-Jan. 2001. Web. This is a cross comparative study developed to understand health complaints by video game players and avid television watchers. 1143 children ages 6-11 including the parents were studied. Intended use: I intend to use this as a subtle fall back support for the repercussions of technology abuse.

http://www.lasentinel.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=6528:top-5-consequences-to-bad-posture&catid=67&Itemid=157

Soraya, Daymon. “Top 5 Consequences to Bad Posture.” – LA Sentinel. – LA Sentinel, Feb.-Mar. 2009. Web. Tension, breathing problems, unnatural fatigue among countless other difficulties arise from the poor posture created by addicted technology use. It makes one wonder if all of the back pain on tv commercials is from the commercials themselves. Intended use: I intend on using this a support for degenerative issues caused by technology in its addicting forms.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/health/news/9558615/Got-back-pain-It-could-be-your-genes.html

Adams, Stephen. “Got Back Pain? It Could Be Your Genes.” Telegraph.co.uk. Telegraph.co.uk, Aug.-Sept. 2012. Web. The poor posture mentioned in some other citations can cause an issue mentioned here. The disks in the back can begin bulging from abnormal pressure angles and herniate. If this occurs the only true help comes from surgery. While chronic back pain disorders and body functions cannot always be treated as they are passed down, some can be treated just by how we think. Intended use: support for the debilitating effects of human addiction to technology.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8057115

Authors, Multiple. “Result Filters.” National Center for Biotechnology Information. U.S. National Library of Medicine, n.d. Web. This article written from a study goes into basic detail of seizures induced by video game playing. The lighting changes and intense focus on specific frequencies of light and sound can cause major issues for already health deprived people. Intended use: Continued support for the effects technological entertainment and pleasure have on the human body.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23097053

Y, Hasan. “Violent Video Games Stress People out and Make Them More Aggressive.” National Center for Biotechnology Information. U.S. National Library of Medicine, 24 Oct. 2012. Web. Violent video games are proven to induce overly large amounts of unnecessary stress on young individuals. The ripple effects move right into the daily lives of these people and cause abnormal amounts of violence to be present in their actions. Intended use: Understanding that we can be controlled by what we feel we are in control of, in this case, violent scenarios. This shows the scarcity of human control via technology.

http://aspeneducation.crchealth.com/article-teen-sleeping/

Aspen. “Technology Takes Its Toll on Teen Sleep.” Aspen Education Programs. Aspen Education Programs, 2006. Web. Sleep deprivation and insomnia are not uncommon among avid technology users. The habit forming need to continue using devices can infiltrate healthy regular sleeping patterns, thus causing a myriad of side effects that could eventually lead to things like suicide. Intended use: Showing technological addictions to be extremely unstable human phenomenon.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15013261

EA, Vaneawater. “Linking Obesity and Activity Level with Children’s Television and Video Game Use.” National Center for Biotechnology Information. U.S. National Library of Medicine, 27 Feb. 2004. Web. Jan. 2015. Obesity is almost exclusively started through a life based around technological functions. The sleep deprivation and lack of social fulfillment bring about many eating disorders. Intended use: show the disconnect between health and technology social and physically.

http://www.nih.gov/news/radio/nov2010/20101109nindstv.htm

“Watching Violent TV or Video Games May Promote More Aggressive Behavior in Teens – National Institutes of Health (NIH).” U.S National Library of Medicine. U.S. National Library of Medicine, n.d. Web. 06 May 2015. Repeatedly watching violent images such as tv shows and movies will cause many real social problems down the line. Intended use: further support for the infliction of violence on culture by means of the infliction of violent imagery on the mind.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19742374

“Young Children’s Video/computer Game Use: Relations with School Performance and Behavior.” National Center for Biotechnology Information. U.S. National Library of Medicine, n.d. Web. Jan. 2015. Children who play video games are closer to bad grades in their future than those that do not. Video games are more instantly gratifying than grades. Intended use: To show the social decline via education that video games and innovative technology have.

http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/122/2/398.abstract

Http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/. “Vitamin D Deficiency in Children and Its Management: Review of Current Knowledge and Recommendations.” Vitamin D Deficiency in Children and Its Management: Review of Current Knowledge and Recommendations. Rowan University, n.d. Web. Jan. 2015. Vitamin D is not something that is produce or entirely processed by the body. Humans need sunlight to perform the radiative processes that naturally convert the vitamin D that we ingest into a useable form. Pills need sun just as much as food does to work in the body. Intended use: The sunlight deprivation caused by almost all of innovative technology can cause serious vitamin lowering symptoms. No sunlight no health.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11737743

“Physical Signs Associated with Excessive Television-game Playing and Sleep Deprivation.” National Center for Biotechnology Information. U.S. National Library of Medicine, n.d. Web. Jan. 2015. Furthering the understanding we have of the sleep deprivation caused by the effects of video game playing and how the body is hurt immensely by these habits is not uncommon. Intended use: Further proof that the most influencing aspects of pleasurable technology are actually quite deadly in the long run.

http://www.video-game-addiction.org/physical-consequences.html

“Video Game Addiction.” Physical Consequences of Gaming Addiction. Video-game-addiction.org, n.d. Web. Jan. 2015. This site is dedicated to educating the general public on the disadvantages that video game addiction has on the human population as a whole. Intended use: A site dedicated to an aspect of my research paper is a useful sidekick, however I intend to only use this as a basis of sound source material and not so much as a quotable medium.

https://www.aap.org/en-us/about-the-aap/aap-press-room/pages/Video-Gaming-Can-Lead-to-Mental-Health-Problems.aspx

“Video Gaming Can Lead to Mental Health Problems.” Video Gaming Can Lead to Mental Health Problems. Www.aap.org, n.d. Web. Jan. 2015. The lack of nourishment that truly addicted gamers achieve is astonishing to say the least, without adequate sunlight and social activity, routine abnormalities in mental health can begin to become an individual normality. Intended use: This is yet another example of how simple gaming addiction, or presence in daily life can lead to serious issues down the road.

http://www.video-game-addiction.org/social-consequences.html

“Video Game Addiction.” Social Consequences of Gaming Addiction. http://www.video-game-addiction.org/social-consequences.html, n.d. Web. Jan. 2015. The body is not the only thing brutally marred by video game addiction, the social aspects of one’s mental health are also altered by social norms of online gaming rhetoric and so on. Intended use: To show the predetermining sequences of events that cause major depression and death in those addicted or raised in a technologically reliant culture who seek mostly if not only, pleasure.

http://www.addictionrecov.org/Addictions/?AID=45

“What Is Video-game Addiction?” Video Games Addiction. Addictionrecov.org, n.d. Web. Mar. 2015. An over view of video game addiction and a brief outline of how many different approaches there are in terms of healing after the fact. Addiction is a major product of video games. Intended use: To show that there are literally millions of dollars being poured into the recovery process resulting from video games alone, not including the countless other technological innovations that exist and are being produced. Technology kills.

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Definition Rewrite–Cyphercomp2

Innovation, Natural Selection and Erosion

Innovation conventionally reduces the work required to accomplish tasks. As the power of convenience makes it easier to compound human creativity, wondrous creations are made possible. Creations that make life easier, and more task oriented are within reach every year. Innovation is naturally just a process that refines an already working system, in a steady state such as the one America is debatable in at the moment, innovation can become addicting. As we create marvelously artful gadgets and solutions to daily first world annoyances, we create a sort of dependency. This dependency comes from habits formed in relation to the innovative services we have addicted ourselves and the next generations to. The integration of innovative forces, electricity in particular, will continue to degrade the human race and its physical ability, work ethic and decisiveness (which is outlined in the causal argument). The ripple effects of innovation are intricate, frustrating, extensively counter intuitive defying logic in every sense of the word.

Natural selection and evolution are basically taught as fact in every school around the world with the exception of the deviating few christian and private schools. Natural selection suggests that in every generation of evolutionary leaping, the strongest in that generation will survive. This is incredibly counter empathetic, inconsiderate and cold. While we are taught that humans are descendants of “other” animals, we still choose to separate ourselves from them in terms of how we think we evolve. For innovation to exist we cannot be done evolving, for natural selection to exist we cannot continue innovating and for innovation to exist we cannot say that we plan to evolve and are therefore already done. There is a brutal cycle of inconsistencies if we choose to bundle innovation, evolution and natural selection into the same basket. The resulting picnic would be a cross between Hitler, Nikola Tesla and the Pope. None of those mentalities can commune with all three at the same time.

The physical capabilities of the human body have largely been altered in many generational niches by innovative, well meaning, mostly electrical devices. Nearly every commodity that could ever come to mind is now gained with a considerable decrease in physical output. Transportation has changed with the development of cars, planes and elevators. Everything is geared towards speed. Physical labor once required to produce energy is quickly being extinguished by new innovative fuel sources. Buttons have replaced much of our physical output  requirements. Do not misunderstand me, innovative devices are not inherently bad, in fact, they are extremely beneficial. The benefits of any system human kind employs has always come from using the system in moderation. While furthering preexisting efficiency, innovation kills off what is deemed unnecessary from the past to boost the productivity of what is current.

A simple conversation with a business owner in the trades will leave any mind in question baffled. While over the decades younger generations grow up with innovative new systems of living, they grow less acquainted with physical labor and muscular output beyond building a physical appearance. Work ethic is what those employers in the trades want. But as innovation compounds the natural order of things, work ethic will die. It is not uncommon for procrastination to hinder the work the millennial generation sets out to accomplish in everyday life. Innovation has created a green house for ever flowing entertainment that numbs and pleasures the lives of every new generation. The addiction to constant pleasure is one that is very difficult to extract the mind from, simple chores in life remain undone and eventually the work required to sustain that life cannot be done. Innovation while good, subtly erodes the foundation on which it stands.

Intelligence is almost by a paradox destroyed by innovation. Skills that are usually built over the course of a child hood are lost to a technological piggy back ride. Natural selection relies heavily on the pedigree of the previous generation. While human intelligence solves all of the worlds problems, it creates ones that never existed before. Just like Monsanto and the super weeds created by accident, innovation creates super weeds in society that are very difficult to fix once they have taken root in culture and the minds of the young. Manufacturing convenience erodes the very foundation of the infrastructure it is producing.

Works Cited

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11737743

K, Okada, and Tazawa Y. “Result Filters.” National Center for Biotechnology Information. U.S. National Library of Medicine, Dec.-Jan. 2001. Web. This is a cross comparative study developed to understand health complaints by video game players and avid television watchers. 1143 children ages 6-11 including the parents were studied. Intended use: I intend to use this as a subtle fall back support for the repercussions of technology abuse.

http://www.lasentinel.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=6528:top-5-consequences-to-bad-posture&catid=67&Itemid=157

Soraya, Daymon. “Top 5 Consequences to Bad Posture.” – LA Sentinel. – LA Sentinel, Feb.-Mar. 2009. Web. Tension, breathing problems, unnatural fatigue among countless other difficulties arise from the poor posture created by addicted technology use. It makes one wonder if all of the back pain on tv commercials is from the commercials themselves. Intended use: I intend on using this a support for degenerative issues caused by technology in its addicting forms.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/health/news/9558615/Got-back-pain-It-could-be-your-genes.html

Adams, Stephen. “Got Back Pain? It Could Be Your Genes.” Telegraph.co.uk. Telegraph.co.uk, Aug.-Sept. 2012. Web. The poor posture mentioned in some other citations can cause an issue mentioned here. The disks in the back can begin bulging from abnormal pressure angles and herniate. If this occurs the only true help comes from surgery. While chronic back pain disorders and body functions cannot always be treated as they are passed down, some can be treated just by how we think. Intended use: support for the debilitating effects of human addiction to technology.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8057115

Authors, Multiple. “Result Filters.” National Center for Biotechnology Information. U.S. National Library of Medicine, n.d. Web. This article written from a study goes into basic detail of seizures induced by video game playing. The lighting changes and intense focus on specific frequencies of light and sound can cause major issues for already health deprived people. Intended use: Continued support for the effects technological entertainment and pleasure have on the human body.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23097053

Y, Hasan. “Violent Video Games Stress People out and Make Them More Aggressive.” National Center for Biotechnology Information. U.S. National Library of Medicine, 24 Oct. 2012. Web. Violent video games are proven to induce overly large amounts of unnecessary stress on young individuals. The ripple effects move right into the daily lives of these people and cause abnormal amounts of violence to be present in their actions. Intended use: Understanding that we can be controlled by what we feel we are in control of, in this case, violent scenarios. This shows the scarcity of human control via technology.

http://aspeneducation.crchealth.com/article-teen-sleeping/

Aspen. “Technology Takes Its Toll on Teen Sleep.” Aspen Education Programs. Aspen Education Programs, 2006. Web. Sleep deprivation and insomnia are not uncommon among avid technology users. The habit forming need to continue using devices can infiltrate healthy regular sleeping patterns, thus causing a myriad of side effects that could eventually lead to things like suicide. Intended use: Showing technological addictions to be extremely unstable human phenomenon.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15013261

EA, Vaneawater. “Linking Obesity and Activity Level with Children’s Television and Video Game Use.” National Center for Biotechnology Information. U.S. National Library of Medicine, 27 Feb. 2004. Web. Jan. 2015. Obesity is almost exclusively started through a life based around technological functions. The sleep deprivation and lack of social fulfillment bring about many eating disorders. Intended use: show the disconnect between health and technology social and physically.

http://www.nih.gov/news/radio/nov2010/20101109nindstv.htm

“Watching Violent TV or Video Games May Promote More Aggressive Behavior in Teens – National Institutes of Health (NIH).” U.S National Library of Medicine. U.S. National Library of Medicine, n.d. Web. 06 May 2015. Repeatedly watching violent images such as tv shows and movies will cause many real social problems down the line. Intended use: further support for the infliction of violence on culture by means of the infliction of violent imagery on the mind.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19742374

“Young Children’s Video/computer Game Use: Relations with School Performance and Behavior.” National Center for Biotechnology Information. U.S. National Library of Medicine, n.d. Web. Jan. 2015. Children who play video games are closer to bad grades in their future than those that do not. Video games are more instantly gratifying than grades. Intended use: To show the social decline via education that video games and innovative technology have.

http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/122/2/398.abstract

Http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/. “Vitamin D Deficiency in Children and Its Management: Review of Current Knowledge and Recommendations.” Vitamin D Deficiency in Children and Its Management: Review of Current Knowledge and Recommendations. Rowan University, n.d. Web. Jan. 2015. Vitamin D is not something that is produce or entirely processed by the body. Humans need sunlight to perform the radiative processes that naturally convert the vitamin D that we ingest into a useable form. Pills need sun just as much as food does to work in the body. Intended use: The sunlight deprivation caused by almost all of innovative technology can cause serious vitamin lowering symptoms. No sunlight no health.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11737743

“Physical Signs Associated with Excessive Television-game Playing and Sleep Deprivation.” National Center for Biotechnology Information. U.S. National Library of Medicine, n.d. Web. Jan. 2015. Furthering the understanding we have of the sleep deprivation caused by the effects of video game playing and how the body is hurt immensely by these habits is not uncommon. Intended use: Further proof that the most influencing aspects of pleasurable technology are actually quite deadly in the long run.

http://www.video-game-addiction.org/physical-consequences.html

“Video Game Addiction.” Physical Consequences of Gaming Addiction. Video-game-addiction.org, n.d. Web. Jan. 2015. This site is dedicated to educating the general public on the disadvantages that video game addiction has on the human population as a whole. Intended use: A site dedicated to an aspect of my research paper is a useful sidekick, however I intend to only use this as a basis of sound source material and not so much as a quotable medium.

https://www.aap.org/en-us/about-the-aap/aap-press-room/pages/Video-Gaming-Can-Lead-to-Mental-Health-Problems.aspx

“Video Gaming Can Lead to Mental Health Problems.” Video Gaming Can Lead to Mental Health Problems. Www.aap.org, n.d. Web. Jan. 2015. The lack of nourishment that truly addicted gamers achieve is astonishing to say the least, without adequate sunlight and social activity, routine abnormalities in mental health can begin to become an individual normality. Intended use: This is yet another example of how simple gaming addiction, or presence in daily life can lead to serious issues down the road.

http://www.video-game-addiction.org/social-consequences.html

“Video Game Addiction.” Social Consequences of Gaming Addiction. http://www.video-game-addiction.org/social-consequences.html, n.d. Web. Jan. 2015. The body is not the only thing brutally marred by video game addiction, the social aspects of one’s mental health are also altered by social norms of online gaming rhetoric and so on. Intended use: To show the predetermining sequences of events that cause major depression and death in those addicted or raised in a technologically reliant culture who seek mostly if not only, pleasure.

http://www.addictionrecov.org/Addictions/?AID=45

“What Is Video-game Addiction?” Video Games Addiction. Addictionrecov.org, n.d. Web. Mar. 2015. An over view of video game addiction and a brief outline of how many different approaches there are in terms of healing after the fact. Addiction is a major product of video games. Intended use: To show that there are literally millions of dollars being poured into the recovery process resulting from video games alone, not including the countless other technological innovations that exist and are being produced. Technology kills.

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Causal Argument Draft–Cyphercomp2

Innovation and Evolution

In a more practical sense innovation in technology is a sped up means of death biologically. All of innovation’s purposes are to bring pleasure. It doesn’t matter if it is a lollipop a form of dance or a nuclear bomb, someone will always receive some form of pleasure from it. The pleasure can range from a relief or to a gain…but in the end it will still kill them. Innovation in every sense through a ripple effect is meant to bring pleasure which is supposed to both compensate and also endlessly fight the death that it causes for itself. Though this idea which opposes common logic, and rightfully so, can be applied virtually anywhere in history, the 1800s will be where this argument will start. The very first industrialized electrical grid was turned on in the year 1882, this was when american’s started killing themselves at a higher pace via electrically boosted innovation. Electricity has made life awesome, but at a cost. There are six general sectors of life that will be focused on here, entertainment, health, energy, transportation, information processing and cultural/social aspects all having something to do with innovation and it’s theoretical dealing of death. The main avenues for electrical entertainment are video games, movies, music and television shows. As video games get better and better in terms of how immersive and real they are, health begins to deteriorate in the typical american setting and the typical video game playing generations. It is rare that a gamer ever plays video games for less than one half of one hour. The american national average for hours of video games played in a week on the low end was 22 hours in 2014. Video games have proven to cause poor posture in gamers as the usual stance is hunched over for long periods of time. This generational wave of bad posture causes muscle stiffness and shoulder problems that eventually develop into over developed neck muscles which either require surgery or have no true cure to fix and leave players slightly pushed forward. Additionally the over abundance of visual stimulation has caused an increase in seizures in young people. These seizures among other macular problems are also caused by increased stress due to in game social and game play. Alongside stress is a large lack of sleep that contributes to obesity and poor grades in school, anxiety and impulsive behaviors as well. These and many other beginning health problems stem from a repeated use of video games and other electronic visual entertainment avenues. Many of these health problems can eventually lead to family and relationship issues. America being its well medicated self has the answer for the side effects to those issues. Medication should not be the last result of innovation as it pursues the prolonging of life.

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Visual Rhetoric–Cyphercomp2

Florida Orange Juice Commercial

Video Link (If you watch it, turn your computer sound off, the video starts with sound immediately. Watched without sound.

Immediately jumping right into the warm and lively early morning nuclear family hustle and bustle, the camera continues a pan down to the middle of a suburban kitchen. The rich sunlight casts subtle shadows across the earthy wood grain countertop of the island. The sparkle of glass is just slightly noticeable aside from the bright orange liquid it contains. A young boy, not much older than 12 jumps into the conversation of the morning while simultaneously, almost as if by routine, grasping the pitcher that contains what every morning should contain. The camera begins panning up and out from the now steady flow of orange juice being poured into a glistening glass cup. The viewer cannot help but focus on the vibrant, deep almost radiating orange color of the juice. As the last filling drop of liquid sunshine tops off the brim of the glass the boy begins to take responsibility for what seems like a meeting of sorts.

.Screen Shot 2015-05-06 at 3.58.00 PM

What was once assumed to be a normal family breakfast has just turned into an early morning board meeting. A shift in focal points sends the viewer slowly around the island counter top flashing to new faces. First a black man in his early 60’s speaks to the boy’s left. Dressed in a tan wind jacket suitable for a meeting with a friend, the man makes a slightly important remark about what the day’s future might hold.

Screen Shot 2015-05-06 at 3.58.21 PM

The boy, now feeling the kick of his orange juice sternly, confidently looks into the man’s eyes and spurts his solution to the remark.

Screen Shot 2015-05-06 at 3.58.48 PM

The glow of the orange juice dancing on his face brighter than the sun on his slightly curled, moderately long blonde hair. The man practically obediently nods in respectful agreement with the boy’s response.

Screen Shot 2015-05-06 at 3.59.06 PM

The first problem of the day tackled with a swift, vitamin C filled breath, the meeting continues. The boy leans back in his multidimensionally colored green t-shirt. With a slight look of relaxation and a definite aura of preparedness the boy initiates the day in gesture. As he glances down at the orange juice out of view from the camera, a new voice is present to his ears. A snap to his next daily planner reveals an eastern women who is dressed nicely in a scarf and shirt that immediately resemble the colors of fresh cut beets. Eyebrows sharply raising, she lifts a stack of questionable math papers into view of the leader.

 Screen Shot 2015-05-06 at 4.00.08 PM

Firmly gripping his now 3/4 glass of orange juice, the boy gives a knowledgeable and confident nod that denotes his understanding of the situation. A slight smile assumed by his complexion, he motions for the meeting to continue.

Screen Shot 2015-05-06 at 4.00.29 PM

Sharply bringing his gaze to his right, blonde hair just nearly keeping up with the motion of his head, his lips read, “how about you?”. The recipient of the question is a girl around his age, possibly his sister. From the almost obnoxious initial facial reaction to the question, we can conclude the two know each other well. Subtly, seemingly frustrated by her lack of leadership position on the matter; she begins explaining what must be done. Blue sweater clad arms folded in a mother like tone she rambles on.

Screen Shot 2015-05-06 at 4.00.39 PM

After a steady stream of what would, under normal conditions be a lot of information, we see a “huhm” as the boy jerks his head backwards slightly as if to say, “easy, understood”. With the possibility of a financial situation being preposed by his equally aged advisor, the boy motions with an expectant remark to his mother across the island.

Screen Shot 2015-05-06 at 4.00.53 PM

 Mother, in a salmon colored sweater much like our assumed sister in blue, responds in a pleasing manor to the young entrepreneur of the day.

Screen Shot 2015-05-06 at 4.01.02 PM

The boy lifts his now half glass of orange juice in a toast to the victory he plans on having in his day. The large glass container of juice is still prominently on display in the forefront. With a satisfied grin he guzzles down the last drops of his glass and he is ready to face the day. “At least I have my orange juice!” we can see him say.

Screen Shot 2015-05-06 at 4.01.21 PM  Screen Shot 2015-05-06 at 4.01.28 PM

Video Link

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Critical Reading PTSD–Cyphercomp2

Is PTSD Contagious? 

If by “contagious” the question means “learned”, yes. Caleb Vines is an Army veteran who like many suffers from severe PTSD. However PTSD is as much a behavior as it is a condition. Caleb has a daughter, Katie and a wife, Brannan. Both Kaite and Brannan have what appears to be PTSD but there is no clear proof aside from this article that the behaviors that Brannan and Katie both exhibit are PTSD. In the article, Mac McClelland mentions what he calls “secondary PTSD”. Like secondary smoking, Secondary PTSD would make sense. Habits acted out by the addicted sufferer pass down certain characteristics to those proximal to the source. While Caleb exhibits the symptoms of PTSD like frequent nightmares and “hypersensitivity” to everything around him, Katie is growing up seeing this as partially normal behavior. When Katie goes to bed she thinks about her father’s nightmares, those are her last thoughts. It is no wonder at all that Katie would suffer from nightmares of things she has only heard about. When Katie is in an uncomfortable social position, just like her father, she begins to feel overly stressed and dismantled by what is going on. It is not just Katie, Brannan also experiences the same problems. Is it possible that by being so close to Caleb, Brannan has inadvertently developed similar fear triggers to that of Caleb? I say yes, and so does the article.

Mac mentions the murderer in the house scenario, when all the family has to rely on is the nervous wreck of a father figure they have, every moment that should feel hopeful, feels uncontrolled and terrifyingly annoying.  Like the article explicitly mentions more than once, Brannan has never been to war, neither has Katie. But imagine the fears and characteristics Caleb exhibits are like a horror movie that Katie and Brannan both watch on a regular basis, sleep and daily activities can harbor many of the same triggers present in the movie that cause increased levels of stress. Mac attempts to cite the number of Americans who suffer from PTSD, the numbers are between 100,000 and 400,000. These margins are steep and possibly caused by the contagious aspects of PTSD, for every one true PTSD sufferer there are many second hand partakers in the repercussive ripple effects that the horrors of war have. While the released numbers of returned war veterans may vary, the numbers of apparent PTSD sufferers continue to go up over the years regardless of how many veterans appear to be home. This correlation, or lack thereof, supports the plausibility that PTSD can be transferred as behavior from one person to another. PTSD is a mental health problem, normally caused by intense trauma but in some cases caused by hearing or seeing the effects of the traumatic experience present in someone else. As mentioned by me earlier, behavior acted on other individuals has ripple effects. It is not so hard to believe that by suffering from Caleb’s visible suffering, behavior can be picked up almost by operant conditioning. The article eludes to the possibility of PTSD having much deeper roots than previously assumed, Brannan had “more than enough” time to get over what her husband had been through and passed on to her. So while PTSD is not the flu, it acts much in the same way. Behavior is contagious, when a mother warns her child of hanging out with the wrong crowd, many times this is because she does not want the child to turn out like the others. The influence of one strong feeling over another is proof enough that PTSD can easily be passed from person to person much like a cold. When Mac mentions the warrior like traits that seem to be exhibited by members of Caleb’s family, this does not mean they understand why they are fearful in some situations and more aware of their surroundings in others. In the beginning the reader feels the lost sense of directive help that the family feels, towards the end Mac shows how the fear and anxiety have driven the family to take matters into their own hands by giving help to other under estimated sufferers of secondhand and first degree PTSD.

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Purposeful Summaries–Cyphercomp2

Healthy Candy, Bad Friends and Super Weeds!

It seems counter intuitive that Kiera Butler, (Author of “Do Multivitamins Really Work?”) would start worrying about her health by buying the closest thing to candy available. Her impulse to buy multivitamin gummy bears at Target seems driven by the idea that the vitamins are less than bad for her compared to regular candy. Kiera takes subtle pride in finally realizing the supplement industry has been selling her on the idea that the gummies are “the only thing that stands between me and scurvy”. Then just one sentence later it is acknowledged that it is “increasingly rare” for people to be getting all of their health needs from food. She implies that scurvy is something never heard about in America, so clearly the vitamin craze has no bearing on such a disease. While humorously suggesting that it is silly to take a gummy supplement, Kiera simultaneously reinforces the need for some form of added nutrition. She is at a crossroad, and begins to ask health experts about everyone else’s nutrition.

According to the Kiera’s sources, “there is virtually no evidence that they (multivitamins) make healthy people healthier”. The massive missing piece to this statement is perhaps the vitamins are maintaining health, not necessarily increasing it. It seems counter intuitive that Kiera would give up the gummy bears after years of taking them. However if they have been working, she never would have known the difference because she never wound up sick. Kiera’s logic first told her that, thanks to the availability of gummy vitamins, her purchase could satisfy more than one need. After dedicated use over the course of a few years, Kiera finds that she has no health problems and no deficiencies. She then decides that because everyone else is over generalized into a group of already healthy people who should stop taking vitamins, she should too. It is counter intuitive that Kiera would not only go full circle back to not taking vitamins, but also make a point to invest in actual candy.

It seems counter intuitive that US-based money lenders like “LendUp”, “Lenddo” and “Moven” would go to the internet so find the truth about potential customers. These companies, using special agreements, browse the social media profiles of potential customers in order to profile them and their acquaintances. The general rule of thumb is that bad acquaintances equals a bad potential customer. The article “Your DeadBeat Friends Could Cost You a Loan” by Erika Eichelberger, goes into depth about many ethically unacceptable issues that could come from using this new form of customer screening. There is a potential risk for discrimination against socially undesirable customers and a glass ceiling being formed. What the article does not explicitly mention is the level of faith these companies are placing in the validity of what they find online. While a customer may create an image for themselves online, it is in no way required to be an actual representation of them in physical life. The companies like Lenddo that feed on this information to develop statistics revolving around the social lives of individuals may be getting an entirely different picture online than they will get in person. All of these services assume that the friends (good or bad) of a potential customer reflect the customer.

It seems counter intuitive that one of Monsanto’s most beneficial solutions to weeds could cause an even larger problem. Monsanto has spent millions of dollars on producing plants like “cotton, corn and soy” that are resistant to RoundUp. RoundUp is what every weed dreads, a deadly cocktail of glyphosates that murders anything that is not immune to its chemical sword. For years Monsanto tried to find a gene they could implant into their crops that would enable them to be sprayed and left unharmed by RoundUp, leaving weeds dead and crops growing steady. Eventually Monsanto found the problem gene they needed in mud created from runoff of their products. What they found was that while Monsanto scientists had been trying in the lab to produce a solution, organisms outside subject to the runoff of RoundUp tests had already developed the genes necessary to thrive in the toxic environment. This was great news for the scientists working with Monsanto, they now had the gene! Sadly after a few years of usage, something began to seem wrong. Ever since implementing RoundUp immune genes to the crops, weeds had been filtered seamlessly out of the fields. However, a new research development revealed that while producing chemical immune crops, chemically immune weeds had also been produced over time, over 20 different species. Now Monsanto is spending millions of dollars trying to fix the problem that came from them trying to fix the problem that nature solved on its own. It seems counter intuitive that by trying to kill weeds with chemicals, Monsanto built stronger super weeds.

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A07: Definition Rewrite — kidhanekoma

Throughout life, we are often taught the police are shining examples of truth, justice, and decency. Police are always to be trusted and are the go to option whenever an issue arises. Seeing as how this is engrained into our culture, it is quite difficult to convince people that officers are just like us. If their jobs are on the line, they will lie to protect themselves instead of doing what is right. It is a very common, and quite frankly natural response within our society. Whether it be a retail, corporate, industrial, teaching, or food service kind of job; at some point we have all either lied or given half-truths in order to keep our positions. You would have to be lying to yourself to believe that they would not do the same.

In a New York Times opinion piece by Michelle Alexander, author of The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness, Alexander goes on to slam the New York Police Department. Exposing many instances where police would lie, how they would do it, and why they have a good reason to do so.

“But are police officers necessarily more trustworthy than alleged criminals? I think not. Not just because the police have a special inclination toward confabulation, but because, disturbingly, the have an incentive to lie. In this era of mass incarceration, the police shouldn’t be trusted any more than any other witness, perhaps less so.” (Alexander, Why Police Lie Under Oath).

From that point, Alexander goes on to paint police officers as ordinary people or the people deemed as criminals. They have a reason to lie. Whether that means they have a specific arrest or ticket quota to meet or if it is used to protect themselves or a fellow officer, if they have the ability to lie more often than not they will take it. Even if they are known to be lying, jurors would still trust the words of a police officer more than they would a criminal. Simply for the fact that, it is a police officer against a criminal. However with a written account from former San Francisco Police commissioner, Peter Keane, can serve as the stepping stone into changing thoughts on police integrity.

“Police officer perjury in court to justify illegal dope searches is commonplace. One of the dirty little not-so-secrets of the criminal justice system is undercover narcotics officers intentionally lying under oath. It is a perversion of the American justice system that strikes directly at the rule of law. Yet it is routine way of doing business in courtrooms everywhere in America.” (Keane, Why Police Lie Under Oath).

Police officers should not have such an easy time being able to get away with murder and excessive force on American citizens by lying and having the media covering for them. It is our tax dollars that pay them. Our hard earned money that supports officers to continue to hurt innocent people and kill suspects when they should face trial. As difficult as it is, our society must come to the realization and accept that the police are not the heroes they once swooned over. With so much evidence of what police officers are capable of doing to get away with their heinous acts, it is a complete mockery of what they call and what we know as justice. We most look pass the media coverage that continues to paint all police officers as paragons of truthfulness, decency, and righteousness. As well as take the narratives created by the police with more skepticism. For of these things do not change, at any moment, it can be your death or assault that a police officer is lying about to get away with.

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