Week 14 ; Ch.12 #3

The section that I found most interesting in this chapter was "Assumptions Underlying Science". This section names six different assumptions because science is a system created by humans. The first assumption is empiricism, which is the belief that our physical senses are the primary source of knowledge. The second is objectivity, the belief that we can observe and study the physical world without any observer bias. Third, is materialism, which is the belief that everything in the world is made up of physical matter. According to scientists, there's no reason to have scientific descriptions and explanations for non-material concepts. The fourth assumption is predictability. Scientists have assumed that the world consists of interconnected casual relationships that can be discovered through observation and inductive reasoning. The final type of assumption  unity, which is the belief in that there is an underlying unity of the universe, or a unified dynamic structure that is present in all phenomena. I believe the most common assumption that is used today is empiricism because the text says that it's the only reliable method for obtaining knowledge.

Week 14 ; Ch.12 #2

This past September, it was my birthday and since it was a Monday, I wasn't really able to celebrate it. My best friend since the 3rd grade was the first person to wish me happy birthday, with a phone call at exactly midnight, a text, and a post on Facebook. Next, was my roommate. Throughout the day, I got birthday wishes from a lot of people, even from people that I didn't really talk to. What surprised me was that I didn't get a birthday wish from one of my close friends, and I shared this with my best friend. She was surprised as well that she didn't wish me a happy birthday because it wasn't like her to forget. Soon enough, the day was almost over and I still didn't receive a call, text, or anything from her. When I signed onto Twitter, I saw that she posted a happy birthday wish to a girl from high school that has the same birthday as me. I know that it wasn't that big of a deal, but as I was thinking about it, I got upset and angry. About a week later, I got a text from her apologizing about me thinking that she forgot about my birthday because my best friend talked to her about it. She said that texted me, but I never texted back saying thank you or anything, so she thought it was a misunderstanding and I never received the text from her. What I don't understand though, is how I got everyone else's text, but hers. I still personally think that she forgot it was my birthday and used that as an excuse because if I were in her position, I would have called if I didn't get a response back.

Week 14 ; Ch.12 #1

I'm a Virgo because I was born on September 17th. According to dailyhoroscopes.com, today, November 15, 2012, it says "You are very creative but may have found a clogged pathway where your ideas are concerned. Consider keeping a notepad with you. You will want to write down your thoughts about things to do later, things to look up, people to see and creative techniques for new ideas. One way to keep creativity alive for yourself, is to value and pay attention to the little ideas that you get wherever you are--including the workplace. One new idea can open up doors of opportunity. Your career direction gets some encouragement and you should find easy solutions. You have a heightened interest in health and diet and have an urge to get things organized into a rational system. There is mental busywork now. Seeing both sides of an issue takes on importance." I personally don't really believe in horoscopes because I think they're just things to get into your head, but since we were required to read ours, I agree that there is a bit of a clogged pathway where my ideas are concerned because of an event that just happened recently. My horoscope also got the "you have a heightened interest in health and diet" right because I want to become a pediatric nurse. Some events that could falsify the horoscope would be if I weren't creative at all, I didn't have a clogged pathway where all my ideas are concerned, and if I didn't have a heightened interest in health and diet. A few of my friends are also Virgos, but from what I know and have seen, they don't show any creativity. Most of them also don't want to major in anything relating to health or diet or even have an interest in it, so that would be a false statement in the Virgo horoscope. Even though it may be a true prediction for me, it might not be for others. 

Week 13 ; Ch.11 #3

The section that I found most interesting was "Social Networking". It states that the internet is affecting the daily lives of young people. I agree with this because today, many people are addicted to using social networks. There are many times where this happens to me when I'm doing homework or just laying in bed trying to fall asleep. When I'm doing homework on my laptop, there are many times where I would open up Facebook because it's so convenient. Also, since I have an iPhone, it's a lot easier to go on social networks like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram because there are apps for that. There are times where I find myself looking through each social network, then five minutes later, I would check them again thinking that there would be something new posted. Nowadays, there are many students that post pictures of themselves drinking alcohol, smoking marijuana, or doing any other illegal activities. What these students don't see is that posting these pictures can affect them professional wise when they're trying to apply for a job. This section proposes that when you post a message on a social network, you need to consider who the potential recipients, both intended and unintended are. Many students assume that their profiles are private and people whom they're not friends with can't see what they post, but there are ways in which employers and administrators can find out if you do something illegal. So the next time you post a picture up of yourself doing something illegal, you should think twice about it.

Week 13 ; Ch.11 #2

Brook J. Salder is an assistant professor of philosophy at the University of Southern Florida that talks about how internet plagiarism is wrong and students shouldn't do it. She believes that it makes the students unable to be educated and the professor's comments can't influence the student to improve their work or to identify particular weaknesses. Salder write ten arguments about why internet plagiarism is the wrong thing to do. She also thinks that students whom plagiarize should face larger consequences than just failing the assignment. Russell Hunt on the other hand, a professor of English at St. Thomas University in Canada believes that internet plagiarism is a good thing. He believes that internet plagiarism encourages students on improving in their work. He says that plagiarism is okay because he believes that the way Universities have their curriculum today, in order for a student to maintain a good GPA, they are encouraged to cheat and plagiarize for help. In this situation, I believe Salder has the stronger argument because she explains how plagiarizing doesn't benefit you, how it's unfair to other students, and how it's not fair. She also talks about a solution to solving this problem, whereas Hunt doesn't talk about a solution. Hunt just states his opinions about plagiarism without any of it being solid reasoning.

Week 13 ; Ch.11 #1

Media experiences have reinforced my existing worldviews and values and challenged and expand my views in different ways. When I see something, for example, on Facebook, I usually don't believe it until I do my own research. An example of this was when one of my friends posted that Michael Duncan passed away, but I didn't believe it was true so I looked it up on Google, and it was unfortunately true. According to the text, this process helps overcome bias and narrow-mindedness because your range of media experiences is expanded. The text states that another way to interpret media messages is to carry out a critical analysis of your interpretation. This usually consists of asking questions like, "Why did it make me feel that way?" or "What is going to happen next?" after reading an article or watching a show/movie. I personally don't interpret this way as much as I do for the previous one, but I have a few times. One time I've done this was when I watched the movie Shutter Island. This movie was full of suspense, action, and mystery.Throughout the whole movie, I was confused on what was happening and the whole concept of the story, but once the movie was over, I was left speechless because it made me wonder how anyone could even think of a story line like that. I'm sure that everyone has used one of these interpretations at least once before about the media, people just don't realize it.

Week 12 ; Ch.10 #3

The section that I found most interesting in this chapter was "Common Fallacies in Advertisements". A fallacy is an error in reasoning due to misconception or presumption. This section talks about how ads usually depend on fallacies and psychological persuasion. A few example scare tactic of ads it talks about are ones that talk about losing weight, bad breath, body odor, or acne, etc. Advertisements like this make people realize the negative things about themselves that they may not have noticed before and will make them self-conscious. The ads promise a solution to the problems if you use the product. Another fallacy in ads is the fallacy of popular appeal, which states that "everyone" is using this product, including celebrities, so you should use it too. This type of advertising is usually the most effective with teenagers because they want to do what "everyone else" is doing to be "popular". Another type is snob appeal, which show people that are sexy, athletic, popular, or rich, using a certain product. A fourth type is the fallacy of appeal to inappropriate authority, which is when a celebrity promotes a product that's out of their field. For example, Britney Spears promoting Nike shoes. There are many different ways on how advertisements catch an audience's attention, so the best thing that you could do for yourself personally would be to not let it influence you into thinking negatively about yourself.

Week 12 ; Ch.10 #2

After reading Robert Liodice and Margo G. Wootan's articles, I enjoyed the fact that one person was for it, and the other was against it. Both articles talked about regulating food advertisements for children. Liodice was for the act of having advertisements because he believes that it's just the freedom of speech. On the other hand, Wootan was against having advertisements because she believes that this causes children to live unhealthy lives. She talks about how unhealthy food advertisements should be banned so that kids could live healthier lives. Wootan also goes into detail about what foods should be acceptable to be advertised and to eat. I personally think Wootan made the better argument because she gave examples of what should replace the acts now. I also think that advertisements do cause some obesity in this world because when people see a large billboard with a juicy burger on it, it usually makes them crave it afterwards. Without advertisements, businesses wouldn't be able to gain the business that they get today to be successful. Although advertisements don't make people become obese, it definitely influences them.

Week 12 ; Ch.10 #1

There are many different types of marketing strategies. Corporations use market strategies to attract customers and gain business. These types of market strategies include: consumer awareness, advertising in media, product placement, television advertising, and the SWOT model. SWOT stands for "strengths", "weaknesses", "opportunities", and "threats". I noticed SWOT was being used when I went to Pizza My Heart. The atmosphere is really comforting and unique because of the pictures and posters on the walls. Aside from the walls, there are also multiple flat screen tvs that are usually left on the sports channel. The price for their slices of pizza are pretty cheap compared to others, and they're large slices, so that makes people want to continue coming in. Also, Pizza My Heart is one of the few places that put your slice back into the oven to warm it up before serving it to you. Their soda machine is something that only a few places have, and it's different and cool because there are so many different  flavors and sodas to choose from. Something that they could work on would be if the staff were a bit friendlier.