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Push for Open Primaries

Political parties are not part of the constitution, the declaration of independence or any other of the hallowed documents of the “founding fathers.”

We need to open up the political process as much as possible.

Ripples of Hope or Change- Blog 10

The Kennedy quotation starts us off:  people can make a difference.  But, harkening back to Mills’ sociological imagination, the differences we can make depend on part on where, how, and when we act.

There are “tipping points” in our world.  (A fun book to read, Pat and I recommend it!)

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Recycle Battery Vending Machine

I love this idea from a few years ago.  Original post by Vinni Ciotti.

For my 60-second idea I wanted to approach a small aspect of a large problem.  In today’s world, we are facing a rather large pollution problem.  Within the problem of pollution, battery disposal is an issue that we face, and a lot of people are not properly disposing of their batteries.  It is common knowledge that people use a TON of batteries throughout their lifetime.  From TV remotes, to Xbox controllers, to clocks, all the way to flashlights, we use batteries of all different sizes each and every day.  There are already battery collection stations around the world, but I find there to be a lack of incentive for people to actually travel to them and dispose of batteries properly.

In Floor Debate on National Civil Discourse Day, Congress Comes to Blows

Washington, DC-

In what was widely seen as a deeply superficial motion to make February 29 of leap years a day to honor and celebrate civil discourse, Congressional members ended up in a tussle of words and, by some accounts, even blows.

Prompt 6-Finding an Organization for Paper 2

The BC (Ashley, Mary, Aylin, and Jordi) decided to use this week to make progress on paper 2.

This week is somewhat similar to last week in the sense you will investigate a particular organization.  You should focus on one that is a likely or definite candidate for your paper 2 focus.

This can be an organization we studied this semester, one you profiled last week, or a new one.  Your organization can be any business, civil society/NGO, or governmental organization.  If you have an interesting case you want to examine, for example the B-lab group promoting B Corps laws, or OPEC, or the Business Council on Climate Change just to name some perhaps less obvious ones.

You should focus on two kinds of “M&Ms” sources for this.  one can be the organization’s own documents.  The other can be from news sources or from other independent, watchdog, or activist groups.

Some leads for sources.

1) The Library’s research by subject page, especially the company information or think tank tabs on the left.

2) The HUB’s news/blog resources or

3) My own Jordi’s collections of webpages, library books, and other goodies.

Featured image: Peanut M&Ms.  The best.  When I was a kid, there were no reds…

Pop-Culture Profundity- Blog 4

For your next blog post (#4), the idea is to use the blog to have some fun, probe how popular culture (TV, film, comics, music, books, video games, and so on) reflect issues relevant to our class such as ethics, business, power, politics, and the like.

One of my classes last year did a similar theme, but more focused on TV.  You can see that BC report here.  Or, a later one here (BGS 4):

You have a lot of latitude.

Before you hit “PUBLISH:”

1) Proofread

2) Get a featured image (and source it in post)

3) Add a mulitmedia clip.  many, like youtube or vivo can be embedded in your post.  Video help.  Audio help.

4) From now on, when you READ posts, RATE THEM using the star voting.  Try to give only 1-2 5-stars a week.

5) Try adding a poll if you want like I did.  Click “add poll” when composing prompt.

 Here is a model post…

Featured image from Daily Californian

Zombies Are Not Dead…

The first R-Rated movie I saw (or recall seeing) was the original Dawn of the Dead.  I was 12 or so and I was definitely getting away with something by getting a friend’s older brother to rent it for us (on VHS tape) from the corner video store.

I think one’s first R- film makes an impact.  What was yours? (add to comments!)

Is This the Kind of Journalistic Integrity You Had in Mind?

Are these journalists, interviewing Jobs in 2010, representing a high standard of truth-telling and fact-digging?  They are Walt Mossberg, and Kara Swisher, widely considered to be among the “best” tech journalists.

http://video.allthingsd.com/video/d8-steve-jobs-on-foxconn/43D148EF-4ABF-402D-B149-8681DF01981A

This American Life- not what you think

Look folks, This American Life is not easy to pin down either.  Ira Glass held himself up as the mantle of journalism, but the show is famous exactly for its lyrical, narrative, unusual approach to story-telling.

This is how they describe themselves:

There’s a theme to each episode of This American Life, and a variety of stories on that theme. It’s mostly true stories of everyday people, though not always. There’s lots more to the show, but it’s sort of hard to describe.