Genius or Not so much ? ?

Have you ever wondered how smart you are compared to others? Do you ever wonder if you’re even smart at all? How about the tests that tell you what your personality is like? Do you believe these at all?

Even though they’re stupid little things I love just sitting down and doing them just to see what the results are going to end up like. Some personality tests can be pretty accurate others you might look at them and think its total nonsense. Some intelligence test might tell you that you are a genius while another test shows that you’re an Idiot.

So what do you guys think about these tests and are you too ashamed to share your scores??? The first time I did it I only got 9/13? Lets see how you guys do…..

INTELLIGENTS TEST
http://www.begent.org/intelquiz.htm

PERSONALITY (Colour) TEST
http://glidden.com/colorgame/gldn0120.jsp

In Toronto In an alley do we find ART or GRAFFITI

CELL PHONES AT SCHOOL

Today, one in every three teens have a cell phone. So what do we do about cell phones at school?
Parents and administrators believe that it distracting our learning when that point was brought into argument the students said that having 30 kids packed into a little classroom sitting in uncomfortable desks learning about topics that have no relation to them was more distracting.

Another argument that was made was that students would use the cell phones to set up drug trades. Yeah, probably somewhere a fair handful of teens use their cell phones to get or set up a trade but they probably use cars to go pick them up and money to pay for it, and backpacks/ pockets to transport it. So where are the bans on kids driving, carrying cash, using backpacks, or even wearing pants with pockets?

Here are a few pros and cons to having cells at school:

Pros :
- Instant Communication: if an activity gets canceled after school or something happens at home you can contact your child.
- Memory Aids: most cell phones have a camera, so children can take pictures in class of what they are learning for example in science class they might take pictures of an experiment that they did and later review it.
- Calendar: help your remember test dates, exam dates, assignment due dates
- Voice Notes: sometimes it takes too long to write a note down so why not just record a quick voice note
- Phones can be silenced during class or study periods, and active only in appropriate places

Cons:
- Students often forget to turn off their phones in class, and ringing noises or text-message alerts disrupt learning.
- Even if set to silent, cell phones can still cause distraction, since text messaging has become a high-tech method of passing notes in school.
- Cheating: students text message each other the answers for tests or exams or might even go into the web to find the answers
- Student cell phone networks add to the spread of rumors and misinformation, which can be harmful during a widespread crisis
- Encouraging fights to happens and posting them on youtube
- Setting drug deals/ bombs etc

Some places like parts of South Korea, Japan and Ottawa have ban cells at school.

Do YOU think cells should be ban from schools, do you think they’re just a distraction, or should we be able to keep them?

WORK CITED:

Cohen, Maya. Cell Phones at School: Should They Be Allowed?. 30 May 2008 .

Love to know: Cell phones. Cons of Cell Phones in School.. 30 May 2008 .

Love to know: Cell phones. Pros of Cell Phones in School.. 30 May 2008 .
Kuehn, Larry. Education and Technology: Cell Phones: To Ban or Not to Ban?. 30 May 2008 .

3 Days of Media (Friday- Sunday)

What I did:
-Walked to the park
Media I Experienced:
-Saw an ad on the sidewalk for a real estate company

What I did:
-Went to the mall
Media I experienced:
-Phone ads
-Glasses ads
-saw an ad at the front of the store for the new j-lo perfume
- heard music playing inside

What I did:
-Drove home
Media I experienced:
-Tim Horton’s ads
-Heard music on the radio
-Heard an ad for subway, "eat fresh!"

What I did:
-Watched TV
Media I experienced:
-Saw a cover girl commercial
-Quit smoking get a new car commercial
-Olay body wash commercial
-Saw a commercial for McDonalds

What I did:
-Went to Oakville
Media I experienced:
-Perfume ads
-Clothing ads
-New shreddes diamond ads
-Honda car ads

What I did:
-Visited my aunt
Media I experienced:
-Home hardware ads
-Future shop ads
-Blockbuster ads
-New homes ads-Heard song “Your not the same” while my sister listened to it on her iPod

Does anything surprise you when you look at your interactions with the media? how do you feel about your exposure to media? is it too much, or too little, just right? Expalin.

I think we are exposed to too much media, if it was just in a few places it would be okay, but its everywhere you go. There is no way to escape it and it has alot of control over people nowadays. I believe the media has too much influence on our society today, people don't think for themselves anymore the media does it for them.

Dixie Chicks - From the American girls next door to being the most hated

America is known as the land of opportunity, equality, and freedom. But is there really freedom of speech and if so is there a limit to how much someone can say? This was all questioned when the Dixie Chicks performed at the Shepherds Bush Empire in London, England when Natalie Maines said “ We are ashamed that the president of the United States is from Texas!” Their number one hit dropped and so did their careers. During this time Bush had everyone supporting him and the war. At this point everyone was very patriotic. This is where propaganda plays its part, Propaganda makes people proud of “our” side and fear and distrust the “other” side. The media demonized them by saying such things as “ Natalie is not paid to espouse her ideas on stage.” This was a quote by Terry Dorsey. But is that really true? Musicians sing express their opinion through music just like politicians say it through speech. Another comment that was made towards the Dixie Chicks was “ Dumbest Bimbos” … “Foolish women who deserve to be slapped around.” This was broadcasted all over, reporters aren’t suppose to give their opinion therefore making this statement people believed it was true. This statement was very sexist and unnecessary but no one did or said anything about it but when Natalie made that statement everyone went against her. Lipton the sponsor of the Dixie Chicks stopped supporting them because of the bad publicity they were getting. If the Dixie Chicks were ashamed that Bush was from Texas that would mean that if Lipton kept supporting them they think the same thing. If we had freedom of speech, why did the media verbally attack the Dixie chicks? Yet nothing happened to the guy that made that sexist comment. The Dixie Chicks gave a lot of courage to other people to start voicing their opinion such as Pink who sing the song “Dear Mr. President” and the Kanye West comment that was made on national television saying that “ Bush hated black people.” Their careers are fine but I guess the Dixie Chicks spoke out at the wrong time.

Photo Manipulation

Photo Manipulation isn’t something new, its almost as old as photography itself and it was used as early as the Civil War. Correcting a photograph isn’t always that bad there are certain techniques that are still acceptable for example colour correction, retouching of the dust, retouching scratches, brightness, contrast adjustments, and cropping the photo to make it fir a layout. But when is it too much? Is it considered too much when you change the whole idea behind the picture? Or is it too much when we see it in the news?
O.J. Simpson known as a legendary football player was arrested in 1994 for allegedly murdering his wife and her lover. It was all over the news. Everyone took time off work, left early etc just to see the case, but what were you suppose to believe? The actual mug shot of O.J Simpson in Newsweek or the manipulated version in Time Magazine. The Mug shot in Time Magazine made Simpson skin darker, scarier and gave him the illusion that he looked guiltier. And the headline was “An American Tragedy” basically saying his guilty before trail even started. This trail ended up being a black vs. white ordeal. . Changing a persons skin tone, or a key feature of this person that makes them original and unusual is not ethical though correcting a minor flaw or brightening a photo, or perhaps making someone appear more perfect. Photos aren’t like text, you can’t read it and have everyone have the same idea. People see it differently and have different opinions for example if you were an African –American and you saw Simpson’s mug shot you might get really offended but if you were a Caucasian you wouldn’t thinks it’s a big deal. But it is. This just goes to prove that we cant believe everything we see.

Work Sited:

thelistuniverse. .. 20.May. 2008 http://listverse.com/history/top-15-manipulated-photographs/

Harajuku Girls (Love, Angel, Music, & Baby)

Gwen Stefani is an amazing singer and a role model for some of us. She has a great voice and amazing fashion inspired by the Japanese. There has been many arguments involving her four “Harajuku Girls”.

I personally think that Gwen Stefani shouldn’t have those girls cant she stand alone? They are a bad representation of “Harajuku Girls” since not all of them are from Japan. They are getting paid good money but for what? Standing in order having their freedom of speech taken away from Gwen. She tells them when to speak and what to say. During interviews they “Harajuku Girls” are quiet in the background meanwhile Gwen likes to pretend that they’re not real but only a figment of her imagination. If they are just apart of her imagination why are they there? She also gave each one of them names also known as “pet names” as Love, Angel, Music, and Baby. In her song “rich girl” she sings I'd dress them wicked, I'd give them names (yeah) Love, Angel, Music, Baby” when I hear this to me sounds like they’re just dolls to help her advertise her fashion line LAMB. But if u were a real Harajuku Girl and u saw these four girls standing by Gwen everytime you see them and when having that outburst on that reporter when she tried to talk to the girls how would that make you feel? Like Mr. Puley said in class “ What if we replaced the girls with a different ethnic group?” would people view it the same or would they see it differently?

_______________________________________________________________________________

Ahn, MiHi. Gwenihana.. 30 Mar. 2008 <http://dir.salon.com/story/ent/feature/2005/04/09/geisha/index.html>.

"Gwen and Harajuku Girls". NO Date. Onlien image. Google. 30 March 2008.

Avril Lavigne Vs. The Rubinoos (Girlfriend or Boyfriend?)

Everyone knows Avril Lavigne as a Canadian punk princess? Avril Lavigne is now one of the best-selling Canadian pop singers, but with fame always comes with a downside.

Avril Lavigne was accused of plagiarizing her song “Girlfriend” from a 1970’s song called “ I wanna be your boyfriend” by The Rubinoos. When the U.S. songwriters filed a lawsuit against Avril, she said, “ They claim that a small part of the lyrics are the same and are saying that I took these from them. I had never heard this song in my life”. If that is the case then why is the meter and the rhythm so similar? The Rubinoos song features the chorus lyrics “ Hey, hey, you, you, I wanna be your boyfriend” very similar to Avril’s more up-tempo chorus “ Hey, hey, you, you I don’t like your girlfriend”. This song was a hit before Avril was born and maybe she didn’t hear it but what about the song by Lush? Avril should have never made the statement that she’s never heard the song before because I believe she either heard it from the Rubinoos or Lush. Maybe she subconsciously knew it already but consciously doesn’t remember hearing it. This isn’t the only song Avril has copied what about the Peaches Avril admitted to copying that so what makes this one so different. Once a copycat always a copycat! So much for that reputation of having her own style in music. The “Girlfriend” lawsuit was filed in California’s Northern Federal District Court where Nicholas Carline accused Avril of copyright infringement. In Court it was stated by Carline “ The entire song is not the same, they have different bridges, but the heart and soul of her song is directly taken from our client”. With that being said The Rubinoos would have never gotten this much fame without Avril. I had never heard of the Rubinoos until this case came up. Maybe this case was their way to regain fame. To avoid all this Avril should have just gotten their permission and make it sound more to what people are listening to today which is almost what she did. There is two ways you could look at this she copied the song made millions of dollars from it and lied about never hearing it or she has actually never heard it and was really inspired by the Rolling Stones. Either way she wasn’t found guilty. Dunbar and Gangwer said "We are satisfied that any similarities between the two songs resulted from Avril and Luke's use of certain common and widely used lyrics. We therefore completely exonerate Avril and Luke from any wrongdoing of any kind in connection with the claims made by us in our lawsuit." After the case came to its conclusion.

Referances:

Archives , Actress. Avril Lavigne Fires Back over 'Girlfriend' Plagiarism. 09 July 2007. 08 Mar. 2008 http://www.actressarchives.com/news.php?id=6613.

Scandals. Songwriters 'Completely Exonerate' Avril Lavigne. 15 Jan. 2008. 08 Mar. 2008 . CTV.ca.

Lavigne Lawsuit Has Limited Chances: Lawyer. 5 July 2007.

Images

"TheRubinoos". No Date. Online Image. Rate Your Music. 8 March 2008. <http://rateyourmusic.com/misc/link_imagealbum_id=71367&image_hotlinked

“Avril Lavigne". No Date. Online Image. Big Pond Music. 8 March 2008. <http://bigpondmusic.com/Album/Avril-Lavigne/The-Best-Damn-Thing.aspx>.