Jose's Blog

Four university students decided to go sailing in a 16-foot catamaran by Dayton Beach in Florida concluding with three hospitalized and one not making it. Sources don’t quite know how long the students were out at sea or how far exactly they have explored to. Suddenly, the boat sprang a leak and capsized. All of the four, paralyzed in fear and scared for their lives, began to swim to shore. One of the friends, Christy Warpniarski, ended up unconscious.

After hearing this tragedy of 42  out of 61 bodies found from a jet crash, most people are considering whether or not to trust United Airlines in the future. Now the main question most are wondering is, what caused the jet to crash?

Devastating wildfires in Northern California and the wine country are becoming the deadliest and most destructive in CA history leaving lives lost. Towns have been evacuated, residents displaced. Due to this, the chaotic flames now have spread throughout the state, heading towards the southern regions. Sonoma County Sheriff Robert Giordano mentions that two more people have been confirmed dead there. He also says the county also has reports of 1,000 missing persons, and that 603 of those have been and are safe.

More and more victims have been identified throughout the counties. Yuba County officials state that they believe four people have died in the Cascade Fire, and possibly a fifth will be shown. Death toll continues to increase, with Mendocino County reporting a total of eight. The state has 42 shelters set up that accommodated 4,800 people on Wednesday night this week.

Citizens from around the nation are sending their best wishes to residents and their families who have been displaced by these deadly fires. This loss has been devastating for many people, with many residents losing their entire houses, their belongings, or even the lives of their pets and loved ones. Additionally, so many people are thankful for the firefighters and other first responders who have no doubt saved many more lives.

On August 12, 2017, there were approximately 500 self-described “white nationalists” – where some of them held signs and flags with KKK and Nazi symbols, with the attempt of holding a rally in Charlottesville, Virginia. A smaller group with the same ideas in mind marched through the campus of the University of Virginia the evening before. Marching with lit torches and chanting slogans such as “Jews will not replace us!” Blood and soil!” and “You will not replace us!” 

Both the march and the attempted rally terribly ended in violence as the white nationalist protesters clashed with counter protesters. While all of this going on, a driver rammed his vehicle into a group of counter protesters – with one being killed and about 19 others injured. To act upon this, an activist began to tweet out images and video clips from the events, asking other Twitter users to help identify the participants: “If you recognize any of the Nazis marching in #Charlottesville, send me their names/profiles and I will make them famous #GoodNightAltRight.” People all over started to share similar calls on both Twitter and on Facebook, and responded.

A number of marchers were identified rapidly. In the matter of just a day, at least one lost his job. For another, they were publicly rebuked by his own family members.  With at least two cases, people who had not been at the events were mistakenly identified by social media users, having them being demanded to lose his job, accusing him of racism and post of his home address on social networks. Also mentioning to New York Times that he “was quickly flooded with vulgar messages on Twitter and Instagram…”

With all this in mind, the activist behind the @YesYoureRacist Twitter account, who first suggested the effort, was then quoted as stating, “I’m not trying to get anybody fired… I’m not contacting anybody’s employers. But you know, if someone goes to a white supremacists’ rally and their employer sees them, …that’s something they probably should have thought about.” I honestly agree with this statement 100%. Just like @YesYoureRacist mentioned, if someone is willing to put themselves out there and label themselves the way they act upon at such events, they should be willing to endure the consequences. Some may argue otherwise, yet who are we fooling by circulating the concept whether it is right or wrong.

The main argument that is being debated about is: was it ethical for social media users to play a part in identifying the white nationalist protesters and highlighting their involvement in the Charlottesville events? Would the answer depend on the particular actions taken, such as: sharing the images of a “public event different from posting individuals’ personal information online, or from contacting their employers? How, ethically speaking, can we perceive these decisions and considerations through the prisms of utilitarianism, rights, justice, and the common good?

In this case, we are dealing with a dilemma that affects the community, employers, and the environment. The community would most definitely not feel safe nor comfortable. Employers will be affected by dealing with the difficult decision of whether or not to dismissed/fired the individuals from their occupations for taking part in such actions. As for the environment, once violence comes to an outbreak, much destruction can be caused – fires, bombs, physical fights, killing, and much more.

Considering all the lines that would fall into place with considering the ideas of which ethical principle should be analytically approached. It is pretty difficult deciding and others may not agree, but maybe the utilitarian approach could be the best option.

As a citizen, just like any other, one would most definitely appreciate some respect accompanied with consideration and dignity. “We are all created equally.” “One must treat others the way they wish to be treated.” “If you show me no respect, how do you expect me to do so to you?” These statements are simply some principles we are taught as children to prepare for the future as respectful citizens. Where did things go wrong?

In today’s class we got the opportunity to try out a mix of sweets that are healthy and not so much, yet too got not to eat. The first subject I tried was Crème de Pirouline (cream filled wafers), it is chocolate filled in a chocolate and vanilla swirled wafer. When first biting into the stick, it is crunchy and then soft, chewy, rich and creamy. The next item on my list was a bright red strawberry with several yellow brown seeds. The taste was sweet and tarty. Next, I bit into a kiwi, which I might lean over to the fact to it being the best on my plate. The outer green was layer was freshly sweet and cold, the seeds gave out crunchiness, and the core tasted like banana. After the kiwi was done, I had a tiny blue berry, which was gone within seconds. I guess I had the best and sweetest for last. There was a crystal sugar covered chocolate doughnut.

East High School Principal, Laura Vibelius struggles with complicated situations during the last weeks of school. One incident, having false alarm going off three times. Another circumstance, ten upperclassmen were suspended for one week. The ten students were protesting the suspension of 5 other students – which were also suspended for a week, due to being caught smoking prohibited substances in the campus parking lot.

Vibelius had the cafeteria closed after a food fight outbreak. She comments, “Not so much unrest because of suspensions, but because of summer vacation being so near”. As the leader of the school, she is hoping for the best.

All this places Vibelius in a very difficult situation, having to make the right decisions on what to act on forward. As the principle of the institution, she believes there will be no continuations of these “incidents” in the near future.

I have interviewed Morgan Whitehead this morning and learned some interesting facts. She is a junior with an Advertising major. Morgan is from LeMars, IA. She was previously a volleyball player and involved with Student Government. Now, after taking time on reflecting, She stepped down from the team to focus on herself. She is currently a Coach at Dakotah Valley. Whitehead has two brothers and one sister at home. For her interests, she enjoys musicals, preferably pop or country themed and she also enjoys watching movies.

This has been Jose and some points on Morgan.

For Spring Break, I did not plan on traveling anywhere, so I stayed on campus. My goals where to watch all the (8) Harry Potter and (5) Twilight Saga movies, cook food, and make drinks with my Magic Bullet blender.

The most fun was having accomplished everything on my list of Spring Break goals. I managed to cook Chicken with Vegetables and Rice, and also blended strawberries, blueberries, ice cream, milk and whipped cream into a great tasting fruit smoothie drink.

If I could travel to the nearest past, I would have advised myself to work on extra credit assignments and future assignments for the classes.

To have an entertaining college spring break, I suggest to either have plans set for things to do, or just go with what happens – explore the possibilities.

What I found most challenging for this transition was deciding what to incorporate into my speech from my essay. It showed me other ways of interpreting what I was trying to reach out to my audience including visual effects.

After reviewing the video, I have always said that I hate the sound of my voice, but that is a statement that mostly everyone says. I noticed that I did not cover every detail that I had originally intended most likely because of nerves. I also had planned to display two videos but I was not able to during my presentation.

I meant to cover more out of what was presented but did not succeed in that, but I plan on improving from what I learned this time.

I believe the most successful speech would go to Christina because she was well prepared and very out-spoken. She caught her audience’s attention, and she was not afraid.

Part 1:

I write in my dorm, in a quiet area, along with music, having food and a drink on my side, and sometimes either alone with no sounds or with friends to keep me company. I am most productive (in the day time) when I am feeling comfortable in the place where I am. I need music, sometimes snacks, company, and positivity around me. Music and snacks give me energy when I am writing. I like to write outlines and prewrites and having them ready by a friend or a tutor before getting them turned in. For writing, in First-year seminar I learned that students need to set their priorities and plan their weekdays in advanced — this will help organize and improve their studying skills. In C&C I hope to learn some history about Popular Culture, new skills in analyzing papers/articles, better ideas for writing.

Part 2:

I believe the text will be about comparing McDonald’s and Carl’s Jr./Hardee’s. What should come next should be some background information on both sides. The next paragraph shows interesting facts about McDonald’s that many people do not know about. McDonald’s advertising strategies incorporate children with their families and also include animals. Carl’s Jr./Hardee’s uses models in all its commercials. Describes background on the fast food chain such as where it originated. Compares both with their open hours and the way they advertise.

#4 on p. 70 (include a link to the online ad you discuss)

http://hdwallpaperscar.com/car-sexy-woman-wash-model-1920×1200.html

This advertisement is misleading because it is supposed to be promoting a car, but instead it is focusing on the model on front of it.

RPC – Page 119 #4

Good advertisements:

Domino’s offers good advertisement to the consumers because it tells the truth and the prices that it promotes are economical and that way people can afford the pizza. 

Bad advertisements:

Hardee’s/Carl’s Jr. illustrates bad advertisement to the consumers because it always displays a model eating a burger and it is done in a seductive way.