Privacy and Facebook

Like Morgan posted earlier this week, Facebook is changing its privacy settings soon! I read a New York Times article today stating that Facebook creator Mark Zuckerberg officially announced these new privacy features. These new features are "simpler" to use because many users don't know how to access these privacy settings. In the article I found it really shocking that "experts and analysts said that few of the site’s 400 million members were aware of them". It would be nice to know the exact number, but 'few' shows that innocent people are having their privacy taken away from them and they don't even know it.

In the article, Zuckerberg states that privacy, "is something we take very seriously". If it is something that is so important, why did it take them so long to make these changes easy for all the users?


Since the majority of us use facebook, do you use any privacy settings? Why or why not?

(Image via http://www.stolaf.edu/services/hr/facebook_logo.png)

Ugly Betty

This post was inspired by Mr. B's TV Tokenism presentation in class last week when we looked at cast photos. One of my favorite shows (which is no longer on the air :( ) is Ugly Betty. Although it is not considered a "network drama", its more "network dramedy" (drama/ comedy). The show follows a Latino woman making it big in the fashion industry but still staying true to her roots. In the cast photo above, she is the main focal point. I find it interesting that her white male boss, Daniel, is next in the photo. This shows his supremacy without making him the lead character. However, what bothers me is that two of Betty's white colleagues, Marc and Amanda, come before her family. Her family has a bigger role than both Marc and Amanda, so it doesn't really make much sense.

I believe that Ugly Betty changed American TV for the better. It's one of the few network TV shows to focus on a minority family and had a main character as a minority female. It was a truly unique show that put Latinos in a new light. I'm sad to see it end. As we have been discussing in class, there still is not one example of a  minority lead in any network drama.

(image via: http://blog.earnmydegree.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/ugly-betty-cast-photo.jpg)

Junior Theme pt 3

The day has come! Almost. I'm currently working on the finishing touches on my JT! As I previously posted, my topic was obesity in America. I felt like I learned so many new things but I would not call myself a total expert. I'm really happy about the final outcome too. I put in a lot of hours and now we can all relax. Wooo! However,  I am struggling with my conclusion. I'm looking into the future but it all sounds too cliche as of now. I just finished the annotated bib and I am working through each paragraph for one final clean up! Overall, I actually enjoyed the infamous JT.

In the long run, I'm sad it's over.

Junior Theme pt 2

        So week 2 of Junior theme was pretty successful for me. After researching and reading articles, I formulated a thesis statement. However, I still think it will change a lot before our final paper is due. I thought the class where Mr. Bolos explained the thesis like a bunch of meat hooks was really helpful. After that, I focused on writing about the most important / relevant reasons to my question (Why is America the most obese country in the world?)
         Interviews. I googled "obesity experts" and found this great website http://www.obesityinamerica.org/obesityExperts/ . The website gave an email and said that it would be great to email it if I had any more questions about obesity. So I did! He emailed back promptly, but unfortuneatly was not an obesity expert. This threw me off a bit because it said on the website "If you are interested in speaking to one of our experts, please contact Arlyn Riskind at (301) 941-0240 or ariskind@endo-society.org." In my email I asked if I could speak with an expert, but he responded back saying that experts were only allowed to speak with media and press. He gave me very helpful resources which was great. He also said to contact a pediatriction or doctor that knows about obesity well.
        After that, I went on twitter and searched #obesity. I found out that there was a live video chat on the New Haven Register with Dr. Katz, an obesity specialist. The chat was really helpful and I emailed Dr. Katz with more questions and he happily answered. I know that it wasn't a face to face or phone interview, but I thought it really gave me good information for my paper. However, I am still thinking about contacting the author of my book to interview him. What do you guys think?
     

Junior Theme pt 1

Hi y'all AISers, so I haven't posted any updates on my Junior Theme yet. Yikes! Here's a summary of week one (way back when). After spring break, I finally decided on my topic, obesity in America. I've always wanted to learn more about obesity and I think now is a great time! I came up with a why question: Why is America the most obese country in the world? But it has been changed a couple times to: Why are obesity rates moving up so quickly? After getting a bunch of articles and background info on obesity I decided to focus on how Americans over eat and under exercise. I found a couple good books at NT with the help of the librarians, but decided to go with Fatland: How Americans Became the Fattest People in the World by Greg Critser. Now, I'm almost done with the book and it has been very helpful in the research process. Well, that was pretty much the start. Tomorrow I'll post about my interviews and thesis statement(s)!

Health Care

To tell you the truth, I wasn't really following the health care bill yesterday. I decided I should probably know the basics of what they were trying to pass. The New York Times had an interesting post about how the bill will affect you. It discussed the issues that were debated like: keeping your current plan or buying coverage through "exchanges" starting in 2014. I thought most of the ideas would be positive changes because it seems fair for all parties. But there was one that caught my eye:

"Starting in 2014, most Americans will be required to buy health insurance or pay a penalty" 

I thought this was interesting because under this statement was "American Indians don’t have to buy insurance. Those with religious objections or a financial hardship can also avoid the requirement". I've never really thought about the disagreements with religious views and health care. But this seems unfair too, what if people without religious objections don't want health care (I don't see why the wouldn't) but it's a possibility. Overall, I am still a little confused about the whole process but the issues are interesting.

What did you think about the health care bill?

Controversial Wal-Mart

           Forget the smiley face, Walmart. I came across a news report that I was really shocked by. The title of the article was "Attention, Walmart customers: All black people, leave the store now". Apparently, a New Jersey Walmart customers were interrupted by this obscene statement made on Sunday night. Someone announced it over the intercom, letting everyone in the store hear. I thought this was totally out of line and there was no reason for doing it. Whoever did this was unnacceptable and has to realize that other people do have feelings and shouldn't be treated that way. Also, we have to question the security at these stores, it's not everyday that someone takes over the intercom and does this.

What would you do if you were in Walmart and heard this? What does this say about our country?

(image via: http://i.walmart.com/i/b/06/camp/Rollbacks/rollback06_180X150.gif)