A Truly Inspiring Film

Over my holiday break I went to go see Unbroken, a film based on WWII veteran Louis Zamperini's life. Director Angelina Jolie paid great attention "to the details of Louis's story, from his rebellious childhood and early days in Torrance, California, to Olympic glory, and of course his great suffering in World War 2." What Zamperini went through was heartbreaking, and though some parts were difficult to watch others were heart warming. Zamperini suffered a plane crash, 47 days at sea, and then was captured by the Japanese army.

One of the most heartbreaking moments was during Zamperini's time at the first Japanese prison camp he was sent to. The officer in charge, which the prisoners referred to as "the Bird", didn't like Zamperini. When the Bird found out that Zamperini was a former Olympic athlete he made him run against another Japanese officer. As Zamperini attempted to run he collapsed multiple times before finally giving up. Seeing this happen made me flashback to scene earlier in the movie. The scene where  Zamperini runs from the back of a group of Olympic runners breaking an Olympic record. As I thought about this scene and watched Zamperini on the ground in the current scene I saw how much this strong man had been broken down.

Zamperini lifting the board above his head

One of my favorite moments of the movie was during Zamperini's time at the coal mine where he was sent after the prison camp. The Bird was also the officer in charge here and he did not give up torturing Zamperini. The Bird made Louis hold a cement board over his head and if he dropped it he would be killed. As he holds the board over his head he becomes weaker and weaker. I started to get very nervous in my seat thinking he was going to drop the board. He then gained the strength I hoped he would; with a loud scream he took the board from its low position and extended his arms completely above his head.

I have one word to describe this film:

Inspiring.

A Possible Step In The Right Direction

After the results of the Michael Brown and Eric Garner grand jury decisions this past week President Obama has announced his plan to help equip police with body cameras. I believe this is a step in the right direction and that all law enforcement officers should be required to have cameras attached to them. This is a great way to keep police officers in check.

Police Body Camera

People question whether or not this will work considering the fact that there was video footage and still no indictment. My opinion is that there is a difference in a bystanders video and a cops video. If a bystander is taking a video one can say that the way they framed the video made things look as if the officer was at fault. If a camera is attached to the officers clothing then the video footage will be from the officers perspective; therefore, if this happens again the jury can see if there was an actual reason for the officer to take the steps that they did.
Another plus side to body cameras is that it might also provide a source for data analysis. It can help specialists understand how police actually do their work. It could also provide data for anti-racism activists and law and order types. Along with providing data it also will give the general public some reassurance. Police officers are public workers who work to protect the public. If we know that they are doing their job and following their training then we can feel like they are truly helping us.

The "Free Hug"

On November 25th riots continued across the country over the Ferguson grand jury decision, but in Portland, Oregon something happened that put a smile on people's faces. As Devonte Hart held a sign offering "Free Hugs" tears were streaming down his face due to his concerns about how brutal police officers were to young black kids like himself. Sgt. Bret Barnum, a police officer at the site, noticed the tears and asked the boy for a hug; along with a hug he gave the boy was seemed to be a heartfelt response to his concern: 'Yes. *sigh* I know. I'm sorry. I'm sorry.' The photograph taken of this moment has impacted so many people, including myself.

Sgt. Bret Barnum embracing Devonte Hart

I have watched many interviews of the police officer talking about what happened that day and his response was heart warming. Barnum talked about how this moment was something that cops do all the time but it just happened to be captured at this moment. When he saw Devonte crying he approached him as human wanting to make someone else feel better; he didn't just give him a hug he became his friend and asked him about his life. Devonte's mom was also touched by what happened; she posted a picture to Facebook that was shared throughout the web. 

This moment happening right after the Ferguson grand jury decision is a sign that change might be on the horizon. That people like Devonte will get to see the change they want to see in the world. It's a sign of peace an it is something that I believe many needed to see. The message relayed through this photograph is so powerful, so inspirational.

Link to CNN interview with Sgt. Bret Barnum

Thanksgiving In A...Tent?

De Armond camped outside of Best Buy

As people prepare for their Thanksgiving feasts one man is sleeping in a tent. Since November 11th,  Derek De Armond has been camping outside of Best Buy waiting to get the best Black Friday deals.De Armond and three of his teammates rotate as to who stays at the tent, because someone has to be there 24/7. I, as well as many other critics, believe that Black Friday takes away from classic Thanksgiving traditions. People spend the weeks leading up to Thanksgiving and Thanksgiving itself waiting in lines rather than with their families. However, Derek De Armond disagrees, he believes that waiting in these Black Friday lines has become a Thanksgiving tradition that’s every bit as important as — and more fun than — the turkey dinner. On Thanksgiving, De Armond, his teammates, and his sons will have their Thanksgiving feast inside the tent. In most cases I'm not much of a tent person but De Armond's tent is not an ordinary tent; his tent comes with three rooms, air-conditioning, a screened porch, a hammock, a flat screen TV, a tiki bar and a Christmas tree.

As many are problem wondering: what makes De Armond and his teammates start their camp-out 2 weeks in advance? De Armond has previously been a Black Friday shopper but he's never done anything like this. What made him change his technique? In the past 4 years he has he has arrived at 6 p.m., the day before, and last year he put up a pup tent but that still didn't get him the deals he wanted. Stores only offer their best deals to a limited amount of people, which means that the people in the front are the ones that get the best deals; so, now being at the front of the line De Armond has secured his chance at receiving these deals.

I still don't know if this hold up the classic Thanksgiving tradition in my eyes, but I can see how De Armond and his friends/family have made this into their own tradition; however, I don't think I am going to start camping-out in front of stores anytime soon. Do you think that you will ever camp-out in front of stores for Black Friday sales? 

Starbucks At Your Doorstep

How nice would it be to not have to wait in those long Starbucks lines in the morning? Well this may become possible soon. Starbucks is working towards having delivery in select markets in the second half of next year. I for one would be an advocate for Starbucks delivery and I believe that plenty of costumers would support this program as well.
However some good questions have arisen about why this may not work. Tony Orlando wonders how they will be able to make a profit off of delivering? This makes me wonder if they will have to charge a delivery fee or if they will have to make their products more expensive? Which leads to wether or not costumers will still want to have drinks delivered? In my opinion this is something that could make or break the delivery process. Even though I would love to have my coffee at my doorstep I wouldn't want to pay a $10 delivery fee for a $3 drink.

Starbuck's Coffee

Starbuck's Frappuccino

Another question that has arisen is wether or not they will be able to keep the coffee hot and the frappuccinos cold? I have some ideas on how they could solve this. Perhaps they could have a cooler in the car to put the frappuccinos in on the way to the delivery. I don't think hot drinks are as big of a problem as cold drinks because those will melt. For hot drinks I think that anything that keeps the heat in will keep the drinks hot. Even those spill stoppers that they started using can keep some of the heat in.
Others make points about how this can really work. David Beirnbaum makes a good point about how for most people Starbucks is an addiction and people will love that they can have their addiction at their doorstep. My own mother is proof of that. When I told her about the possibility that Starbucks could deliver to our house she could not have been happier. Even with some of these problems I believe Starbucks will make delivery possible, because it is a step forward that could really benefit the company.

Ebola Gets Worse and Obama Does Nothing

How does it make you feel that an Ebola-infected doctor who just returned from New Guinea was allowed to carry on with his normal activities? The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention seems to be fine with this happening; in fact they "instruct health workers returning from West Africa to monitor their health for 21 days and that "during the time you are monitoring your health, you can continue your normal activities." This is why Ebola, which may not be considered a health crisis in the US just yet, will become a national health crisis.

Governors of New York and New Jersey  Implementing New Protocol

It has been about a month since the first case of Ebola in the US, and even though the Obama administration claimed to have it under control there have still been other cases of Ebola since then. Due to the poor policies being put into place, the governors of New Jersey and New York have had to put their own policies into place. They imposed a mandatory 21-day quarantine on health professionals returning to either state from West Africa.
I believe this policy should be imposed throughout the country. I don't think any Americans would be upset if the president took precautionary measures instead of allowing more people to contract the disease. It's time for Obama to implement a policy that will truly protect Americans.

'Native Son' Review

This past Thursday our American Studies class went to see a play of the Richard Wright novel 'Native Son.' I thought this interpretation of the book really captivated the audiences attention, at least it captivated mine. I especially liked how Bigger had his conscience constantly following him around; I thought that made Bigger's presence on stage stronger than if he were alone. Though I didn't read the book the play did a nice job of telling the story in a clear way. 

Bigger Thomas

    One parallel I noticed in this play was how Mary and Bessie both were alcoholics. When they were on stage a flask was typically being passed around. My interpretation of this was that Wright wanted to show how the whites and the blacks weren't that different. A white woman wasn't "classier" than a black woman, if they were both alcoholics. Not to mention that these two women were both murdered by Bigger. These two women have so much in common yet they are completely different. I can't help but wonder if Richard Wright wanted these women to be seen this way on purpose? 

    At the end of this play Bigger was supposed to be seen as a victim; I, however, didn't see him that way. Had Bigger only accidentally killed Mary I would have seen him as more of a victim because he didn't have control over that situation, but he intentionally murdered Bessie which is why I don't see him as the victim in the situation. There were times when I felt that he truly wasn't in control of his situation and it didn't help that he constantly had his conscience talking in the background. Nevertheless, killing Bessie was unnecessary in my opinion. Even so, I still enjoyed the play and I understand the message it was trying to convey to the audience about the circumstances that African Americans had to live under during that time period. 

'National Security Priority' Being Taken More Seriously

In my last post I talked about how President Obama wasn't doing enough about the Ebola crisis. Well he has now amped up security at some airports. Center of Disease Control staffers will be at JFK in New York, Chicago, Newark in New Jersey and Washington Dulles. At these airports they'll ask the travelers where they have been and take their temperatures. Even though a fever is one of the first symptoms of Ebola it is also a symptom of malaria and influenza so this can be misleading. 

Airlines say that people on the same plane as someone who is infected with Ebola can't contract the disease because it can only be contracted through bodily fluids. No matter how much people say that it doesn't matter if flights come in to the U.S. from infected African countries I still believe that these flights should not be allowed in to the country. The best way to prevent a disease like this, in my opinion, is to do your best to make sure it doesn't enter the country. Obviously if we had done that in the case of Thomas Duncan we may not have had an outbreak in the U.S., which then led to Thomas Duncan's nurse contracting the disease. 

The Obama administration does not want to stop flights from West Africa because those countries screen people on their way out. CDC says that 77 people have been pulled out of line to board flights because of these screenings. Though this does make me feel a little more comfortable about the situation, I do not feel that we should rely on these screenings. I believe that we need to do as much as we can to prevent any more people from getting the disease. If we wait for the outbreak to die down then we can start to allow flights back in to the U.S.

Do you think these screenings are enough to control Ebola or should the protocols be more drastic? 

The 'National Security Priority' That Isn't Being Taken Seriously

Just five days ago, the first case of Ebola in the United States was found in Dallas, Texas. Thomas Duncan, a  man coming from Liberia, landed in Dallas on September 20th; ten days later he was diagnosed with Ebola. The question everyone is asking is: How did he get in to the United States? This man was given a questionnaire on the flight to the U.S. and one of the questions asked whether he had been in contact or near someone with Ebola; the man answered no and was then let into the country with no further testing or screening. The real problem I have with this situation is that a plane coming from the infected area of West Africa was even allowed to fly to the United States.

Thomas Duncan

President Obama claimed that Ebola was a "national security priority", and yet he is allowing people to fly into the country who have been in the infected areas. Why hasn't he stopped all flights to the U.S. from these countries? He has the power to do so. Is Obama in denial about how serious this really is? In fact, on September 16th just four days before the man from Liberia arrived in the United States President Obama declared that the chances of Ebola reaching the U.S. was "extremely low". Then Thomas Duncan arrived and everything became more serious.
I can't help but wonder what Obama will do next; he already made the mistake of allowing planes to fly in to the United States, will he finally realize that he needs to stop all flights? Knowing that Obama could have taken precautionary measures to ensure that Ebola did not reach the United States and he didn't makes me feel as though he is one of the reasons that Ebola has made it here to the states.
Do you think that Obama did the right thing by allowing planes to fly into the U.S. or should he have never allowed that to happen?

What's Apple Going To Do About BendGate?

People from all over the country went to get their new, thinner than ever, iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 plus' this past week . I did not join in on the craze for the newest iPhone however, I know many people that did. When these people finished using their phones they put them in their back pocket. I would have done the same thing but after hearing that iPhones are now bending because people are sitting on them I would be scared to even have my phone in my front pocket. So what is Apple going to do about this defect that their costumers are experiencing?

Bent iPhone 6 Plus

If your phone is bending Apple is willing to replace it as long as it passes a "visual inspection." Apple is also saying that they do not believe that this can happen to the phone when it is used "regularly." I guess they don't believe that costumers putting their phones in their back pockets and sitting down is not normal. Well I would have to disagree with this. I find is very frustrating that Apple would say something like this trying to blame the consumer for a something that is the manufacturers fault.  I always put my iPhone 5s in my back pocket and it is flat. Why was it so necessary for them to make the phone so thin?

Apple says that they are looking into the problem with "insane amount of detail." I wonder what types of changes they will make after they look into it. They can't just tell their costumers not to sit on their phone; they need to come up with a solution that makes the phone stronger. Hopefully apple can come up with a solution quick because the more they wait the more iPhones they will have to replace.

The Golden Arches Are Not So Golden

The world's largest restaurant company known for its "golden arches" isn't golden right now. For three consecutive months McDonalds has posted declines in global sales. It's believed that the problems McDonald's has had are due to the changing tastes of American consumers. McDonald's hasn't offered products with fresher ingredients and adventurous flavors. So what does this mean for the Golden Arches? CEO Don Thompson says "We're moving forward thoughtfully and with a sense of urgency." I have a feeling that McDonalds will be able to turn things around. They have come up with a three step plan to make things better. 

The first step is to improve operational execution. McDonald's is working on reducing wait times. One way they are trying to make this happen is by speeding up the payment process with digital options. McDonald's has announced that it will be working with Apple Pay to help make the process faster. They have also made things in the kitchen more accessible so that the kitchen moves quicker. I believe that Apple Pay will be very beneficial for McDonald's now that we have come into a time period where almost everyone is walking around with an iPhone in their back pocket. 

The second step is to make the food stand out. McDonald's is focusing on advertising what they know has worked. McDonald's is pushing new and limited-time products which they believe will help them grow."We're placing great emphasis on the balance between our core classics and the number of new products that are being introduced," Thompson said in July. "And this is to ensure that they can be delivered at the speed and convenience that customers expect from McDonald's." They are also trying to come up with healthier alternatives for McDonald's costumers. 


The third and final step is to boost branding efforts. Along with Apple Pay, McDonald's is testing things like customized burgers and loyalty programs in different parts of the world. The company is working to understand what the consumers want the most. Their goal is to bring back the McDonald's brand. What do you think? Will McDonald's be golden anytime soon?

9/11 Tribute Shirt Banned From School

September 11th is a day that everyone in the US remembers those who lost their lives 13 years ago. That is exactly what a sixth-grader from Orangevale, California was trying to do. Every year her entire family wears the same 9/11 memorial shirt, but this year she couldn't because school officials said it violated their dress code. The school has a uniform that the children must wear and they felt that making one exception like this would make it hard to draw the line in the future.

T-Shirt The Family Wears Every Year

I do not agree with the schools reasoning as to why this young girl wasn't allowed to wear the t-shirt. I understand that the school has a strict dress code that they feel they must enforce, but on a day like 9/11 I believe that they could have made an exception. 9/11 has a significant meaning to this girl's family. Her stepfather has been a part of the military for 25 years so this day is very important for their family. School officials should have realized the significance when the stepfather called to see if his stepdaughter could wear the shirt. I don't think he would have made the call if it didn't mean a lot to him and his family.

If the school officials didn't want it to seem like they were making an exception for this girls family then they should have allowed all kids that day to wear clothing that represented America and/or 9/11. I don't think that the school did all that they could to allow this girl to wear the shirt. What do you think? Was the school right in their reasoning?

The Pretesting Process

What if as you were leaving for school one morning your mom or dad said to you "Hope you fail your test today!" Something about that just doesn't sound right. Well it actually does. Studies are proving that if you take a pretest before each unit and fail that test you will be more successful on the final exam. You will now be able to use the pretest as a base for the entire unit. It can prepare you for what's about to come. You learn to understand the pretest. 

At U.C.L.A. psychologist Elizabeth Ligon Bjork and Nicholas Soderstrom tested this theory in a live classroom. They gave a pretest to each of their students prior to teaching a lesson. Most students failed the pretest as expected. The students received the correct answers for that test in a reasonable amount of time after they've taken them. This is because studies show that the most improvement is when students aren't waiting too long to be given the right answers. Bjork and Soderstrom created the final exam by combining it with questions that were related to the questions on the pretests and questions that were not. The results: students scored 10 percent higher on questions that they were familiar with than on questions they weren't. 

Growing up I was taught that failing a test is something that you don't want to happen to you. I was taught to strive for an A that is why failing a test is something that doesn't sit well with me. However, if teachers giving pretests with the intention of students failing becomes a popular way of teaching I have to wonder if I would be okay with failing my pretest? I would only be okay with failing under one circumstance: if the pretest did not count towards my final grade in the class. This is something that was not covered in the article I read, and it leaves me questioning why they did not talk about it. Was it because it is not something that you must or you must not do in order for this process to work? Was it because it depends on the individual teacher? All I know is that if I were in a class using this pretesting process I would hope that it did not affect my final grade. I feel that by having this process implemented into schools without having it affect final grades would benefit everyone’s learning. As Benedict Carey of The New York Times says 'We fail, but we fail forward'.