War in Iraq and Afghanistan
This article talks about how the war in Iraq and Afghanistan, once the most important topic in U.S. politics, has become somewhat unmentioned. Democrats are still somewhat divided on the war, and republicans are unified together and with President Obama in support of sending more troops, but neither really want to debate about the war. I think that although certain topics like the economomy are the most important right now, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are still going on and still be an important issue until they are officially over.
End the War on Pot
This article says that the ban on marijuana is failing and is doing much more harm than if it was legal. Because it is illegal, it is costing the government billions of dollars for anti-drug policies and for arresting and prosecuting drug offenders. If pot was made legal, the government would save those billions of dollars, plus make billions more through taxing it. The only problem with legalization is that there need to be laws put into effect so that no one is able to drive under the influence, which could end up being as dangerous as drunk driving.
Ban on Texting While Driving
This article says that a very large amount of people support a ban on texting while driving. I am in full support of this idea, as texting while driving is one of the most dangerous things you can do while driving. I do not think, though, that people should be charged the same as drunk driving, as that seems a little extreme since they are not impaired the whole time.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/29/us/politics/29war.html?_r=1&hp
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/28/opinion/28kristof.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/02/technology/02textingside.html?_r=1&ref=newyorktimes-poll-watch
Friday, October 29, 2010
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Journal 8
Google:
Google has a very clean and minimalistic home page that displays only important features and has a lot of open, empty space. The only image on the page, the Google logo, is placed right in the middle of the page and takes up the most space out of any of the other links on the page. The basic Google logo is displayed on most days, but on holidays and special occasions, the logo changes into a more artistic version representing whatever event is taking place. A small bar runs along the top of the page which gives links to search features such as images, videos, maps, news, shopping, and Gmail. Right in the middle of the page below the Google logo is the search bar with two search buttons. To the right of that are two small option links, and below the search bar are some more links. Since most of Google’s features, such as news stories, images, and videos, are presented as links (which are small in size) instead of the content actually being posted on the main page, less content is shown in order to make the site appear as neat and organized as possible.
Yahoo:
Yahoo’s main page has a large amount of the site’s content and links available on it. Along the top of the page is the search bar with other links above it, such as images, videos, shopping, and more. The rest of the page has much more content than Google’s main page. Along the left side of the page are 18 links (with small icons) to parts of the Yahoo site, such as maps, mail, finance, dating, horoscopes, music, sports, and much more. Most of the page is taken up by news stories, pictures from the news stories, Yahoo “trends,” and picture links to popular videos. There is little free space on the page like Google’s site, but much more content, like links to news stories and pictures are given. As a result, the page appears much more cluttered compared to Google’s “minimalistic” approach.
Google has a very clean and minimalistic home page that displays only important features and has a lot of open, empty space. The only image on the page, the Google logo, is placed right in the middle of the page and takes up the most space out of any of the other links on the page. The basic Google logo is displayed on most days, but on holidays and special occasions, the logo changes into a more artistic version representing whatever event is taking place. A small bar runs along the top of the page which gives links to search features such as images, videos, maps, news, shopping, and Gmail. Right in the middle of the page below the Google logo is the search bar with two search buttons. To the right of that are two small option links, and below the search bar are some more links. Since most of Google’s features, such as news stories, images, and videos, are presented as links (which are small in size) instead of the content actually being posted on the main page, less content is shown in order to make the site appear as neat and organized as possible.
Yahoo:
Yahoo’s main page has a large amount of the site’s content and links available on it. Along the top of the page is the search bar with other links above it, such as images, videos, shopping, and more. The rest of the page has much more content than Google’s main page. Along the left side of the page are 18 links (with small icons) to parts of the Yahoo site, such as maps, mail, finance, dating, horoscopes, music, sports, and much more. Most of the page is taken up by news stories, pictures from the news stories, Yahoo “trends,” and picture links to popular videos. There is little free space on the page like Google’s site, but much more content, like links to news stories and pictures are given. As a result, the page appears much more cluttered compared to Google’s “minimalistic” approach.
Monday, October 11, 2010
Journal 7
Last Wednesday, the TV show South Park returned to Comedy Central with the second half of its 14th season. I chose to evaluate South Park because it is a popular show that has had a large amount of controversies and its episodes still remain relevant with every season. South Park has remained a very popular show since its beginning. So far, it has aired 203 episodes and has been renewed for a 15th season. In 1999, a South Park movie, South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut was released and was a box-office hit and received great reviews. The TV show has also won four Emmy awards and a Peabody Award for Comedy Central. Although popularity and awards show how well the show is received, the most important thing for a comedy is how funny the show is.
While some episodes cause almost non-stop laughs and others have only a few funny moments, South Park has had consistently funny episodes over its span. One of the reasons I think this is true is because it uses a very wide range of jokes. Some are really simple jokes, like killing off the character Kenny in ridiculous ways in many of the early episodes, or more complex jokes, like an episode that uses comedy to show how “Wall-Mart” can destroy small businesses and take over an entire town. Another reason South Park is so funny is because it uses satire to make fun of current events. Episodes of South Park are able to be created very quickly; usually an episode takes only a week to be made. Because of this, episodes are able to be very relevant to current events, which make the jokes about the events much funnier. For example, an episode about the results of the 2008 presidential election was released less than 24 hours after Barack Obama was declared the winner.
Another reason why South Park is a consistently good show is because it covers an extremely wide range of topics. South Park’s episodes have centered around just about everything , including alien abductions, the kids building a clubhouse, rainforests, Saddam Hussein, child abduction, illegal immigrants, hippies, global warming, Tourette’s syndrome, Guitar Hero, Canada, Facebook, and even a giant mechanized Barbara Streisand. Since the creators of the show are able to make episodes about so many topics, the show is able to stay interesting and avoid becoming boring or not funny.
Since the show’s creation, it has created many controversies and is considered one of the most controversial shows on TV. Besides the large amount of profanity and violence that revolves around a group of fourth-graders, the show has had many episodes about sensitive topics. While some episodes may upset people, the creators are not afraid to explore most topics, and since the show is on Comedy Central and rated TV-MA, the show is rarely censored. One show I could compare South Park is Family Guy. Both are comedy cartoons that revolve around a group of families and other characters and have had many ridiculous episode topics and controversial episodes. Also, there were a group of South Park episodes that revolved around making fun of Family Guy, which shows that while Family Guy, a show on prime-time Fox, is not able to get away with as much as South Park, they are still both easily compared.
While some episodes cause almost non-stop laughs and others have only a few funny moments, South Park has had consistently funny episodes over its span. One of the reasons I think this is true is because it uses a very wide range of jokes. Some are really simple jokes, like killing off the character Kenny in ridiculous ways in many of the early episodes, or more complex jokes, like an episode that uses comedy to show how “Wall-Mart” can destroy small businesses and take over an entire town. Another reason South Park is so funny is because it uses satire to make fun of current events. Episodes of South Park are able to be created very quickly; usually an episode takes only a week to be made. Because of this, episodes are able to be very relevant to current events, which make the jokes about the events much funnier. For example, an episode about the results of the 2008 presidential election was released less than 24 hours after Barack Obama was declared the winner.
Another reason why South Park is a consistently good show is because it covers an extremely wide range of topics. South Park’s episodes have centered around just about everything , including alien abductions, the kids building a clubhouse, rainforests, Saddam Hussein, child abduction, illegal immigrants, hippies, global warming, Tourette’s syndrome, Guitar Hero, Canada, Facebook, and even a giant mechanized Barbara Streisand. Since the creators of the show are able to make episodes about so many topics, the show is able to stay interesting and avoid becoming boring or not funny.
Since the show’s creation, it has created many controversies and is considered one of the most controversial shows on TV. Besides the large amount of profanity and violence that revolves around a group of fourth-graders, the show has had many episodes about sensitive topics. While some episodes may upset people, the creators are not afraid to explore most topics, and since the show is on Comedy Central and rated TV-MA, the show is rarely censored. One show I could compare South Park is Family Guy. Both are comedy cartoons that revolve around a group of families and other characters and have had many ridiculous episode topics and controversial episodes. Also, there were a group of South Park episodes that revolved around making fun of Family Guy, which shows that while Family Guy, a show on prime-time Fox, is not able to get away with as much as South Park, they are still both easily compared.
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