The Dangers of Multitasking

Clifford Nass was a professor at Stanford University that studied the effects of multitasking on college students. He died Saturday at Stanford Sierra Camp near South Lake Tahoe according to his Obituary, which outlines his studies. At Stanford, he was amazed by students who browsed Facebook and Twitter, texted on their cellphones, and did homework, all at once. At first, he envied the "skill," asking why he couldn't do it himself. Unfortunately, his studies showed that the multitaskers were actually terrible at organizing information, switching between tasks, and discerning significance. Writing samples from multitaskers showed less complex ideas, and he described them as "living and writing in a staccato world."

Pictured: Clifford Nass with various distracting objects

Writing this blog post, I have a video chat going on in the background, and occasional texts and Facebook notifications. My friends are commonly in similar situations. I think that his research holds true for many students, and we should learn from it. 

Are you a multitasker? What are you doing at this very moment? Would you be more efficient if you did one thing at a time?

The kind-of separation of Church and State

"The word ‘messiah' is a title, and it's a title that has only been earned by one person, and that one person is Jesus Christ."

This was the quote given from a Tennessee judge after ordering a baby's name be changed from 'Messiah' to 'Martin.' This article states that recently he has (justifiably) been cited for an inappropriate religious bias in violation of the state judicial code of conduct.

Reading this story really bothered me. This judge believes that his personal religious beliefs are so important and superior that they must find their way into other people lives and delegate their own choices. We live in a country where Church and State are supposed to be separated. Those words aren't specifically written into the constitution, but it is clear that Government shall make no establishment of religion.

Are we really separate though? As we discussed in class, the President must end all public addresses with "God Bless America." If he didn't he would face enormous backlash- 

"THE PRESIDENT DOESN'T BELIEVE IN GOD!!!!"- But why would that even matter? He should not let any religious affiliation effect a single thing that he does towards ruling the nation. Why do we swear on a bible in the court room? Why can't same sex couples be legally wed? Why is creationism taught in Texas? In my opinion, we are far from separate.

Do you think we are? Will we ever be?

Lou Reed

Saturday morning we were sitting in Charlie's basement and Ben picked up a bass and started playing the signature bass line from "Walk on the wild side" by Lou Reed. 

It was stuck in my head the rest of the day and later that night I dove into the musical offerings of Lou and the Velvet Underground, listening to all there was to listen to. I couldn't believe I hadn't before. 

It made it all the more shocking to wake up the next morning to Facebook status's saying "RIP Lou Reed."

According to this article The Velvet Underground influenced artists "R.E.M., David Bowie, the Sex Pistols, the Talking Heads, Roxy Music, U2 and Patti Smith." Their four albums weren't very popular at the times of their release. However, the lyrical quality is unbelievable. 

From the song "Herion"

"And all the politicians makin' crazy sounds 
And everybody puttin' everybody else down And all the dead bodies piled up in mounds"


The reason this music was so influential was because it was some of the first rock music with lyrics that were meaningful. The songs were about deeper subjects that hadn't before been put into song. 

There are many artists now that resemble the Velvet Underground were in the 60s and 70s. What current acts do you think will be considered legends in the future? 

A few of my guesses are Jack White, Wilco, Beck, The Black Keys, maybe Lady Gaga. 
What are your predictions?

Shooting at Sparks Middle School

A 12 year old student school in Nevada used a semi-automatic handgun at school this morning to wound two other students and kill a teacher. He then turned the gun on himself. This article states that any motive is unknown, as well as where the student got the gun. 

There is no solution to end shootings. As long as guns are being made, people will be able to get them. And as long as people have guns, they will be used for the wrong reasons. We can't physically stop people from coming into possession of guns. But maybe we can convince them not to shoot people with them.

This interview with Marilyn Manson (watch it, it's worth the 4 minutes) occurred years after the Columbine shooting, while he was still subject to blame from people who felt he influenced the shooters.  

His final exchange in the interview is incredibly profound.

"What would you say to them?"

"I wouldn't say a single word to them. I'd listen to what they have to say. No one else did."

Caught on Camera

In this video, captured by a helmet camera, a Range Rover was surrounded by motorcycles on the highway. One cut him off and brake checked the vehicle, causing it to tap his rear wheel. The driver of the SUV stopped, but was quickly ambushed by the pack of bikers. The driver, Alexian Lien, had his wife and 2 month old daughter in the car. As they started to bang on his car, he fled, hitting more bikers in the process. One was paralyzed.

Eventually he got to stand-still traffic and the bikers caught up to him. They smashed the windows of his car, pulled him out, and kicked and stomped on him.


This is not the only video. The entire event was captured by surveillance cameras, highway cameras, and bystanders cell phones and iPads. According to This article, 6 people have been arrested so far for their participation in the beating. One of them was an off-duty police officer.

Had it not been for the videos, the court proceedings may have been very different. People might assume that the driver of the SUV had started the altercation, and he might have faced charges. The helmet camera footage was very important for proving his innocence, and showing the crimes of the bikers.

This is an example of how technology is playing a larger role in the modern courtroom. It allows for prosecutions to be more accurate.


Are there any negative aspects of digital cameras being so widespread?
Do you know of any other cases similar to this one?

China's Internet Surveillance

China's "web police" are employed by the governments propaganda sector.  This article estimates that 2 million people are payed to keep tabs on people internet usage. The Communist party's tight control on censorship is to minimize political or social unrest that could challenge the government and start an uprising. They have banned Facebook and Twitter because of this. Last year they blocked the New York Times due to it's reports that made Chinese political officials look bad. Hundreds have been detained for negative comments, and highly followed bloggers are "encouraged" to make positive ones. 

In this day where almost everything revolves around the internet, it is hardly surprising that other governments (including the US) have their own monitoring tactics as well. This article gives examples:

• A "sarcastic" Facebook status of a boy who said he was going to shoot up a kindergarten put him in jail for months
• Instagram photos of money and guns lead to the biggest NYC gun bust ever
• A mom's Facebook photo of her baby with a bong lead to her arrest

It is also no secret that a New Trier student was suspended last year for Tweeting a joke about bombing the school.

 If you share something publicly on social media, "you should expect the world to read it," said Andy Sellars. This is something we should all know when posting on the internet. It is a public place. We might not have the draconian security that China has, but people still need to be careful. 

How careful are you on social network? How do you think law enforcement should deal with people who claim they were "joking?"

South Side Shooting and Victim Blame

On September 19th, a gunman with an AK-47 opened fire on a basketball game around 10pm in the Back of the Yards South Side neighborhood. Thirteen people were hit out of the sixteen shots fired, but miraculously they all survived. One of the victims was a three year old boy. Police have since made arrests, although that offered little comfort to the victims and residents.

Article 1 and 2

Gun violence is a popular issue, it seems there is a gun related incident on the news at all times as of late. Chicago Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy addressed this, stating that “Every time somebody is shot in this city, it’s a setback,” McCarthy said. “But this is not just a Chicago problem.” 
I don't feel qualified to give my own opinion on gun control laws, but I want to discuss something else: 

This screenshot was posted on reddit.com, bashing the original poster. (highlighted in red)
However, I can't say I completely disagree with him. I would never post something like this myself, but while reading newspaper articles about the incident, this was the first thing to pop into my mind. I think it is incredibly irresponsible of that parent to take their child out into a dangerous neighborhood at night.

If someone leaves their car unlocked in inner-city Detroit and it gets broken into, people tell that person they're an idiot. We do not live in a Utopian world, and it's wrong for people to pretend that we do. You need to take necessary precautions to look out for the safety of your family. I don't think it's right to completely blame this mother, but she is not winning any mother-of-the-year contests in my opinion. The shooter is to blame, not her. But it's a lie to say that she couldn't have been more careful. It is not victim blaming to point out poor risk management.

A particular quote from one of the Chicago Tribune articles stood out to me: 

"Ain't nothing changed since Thursday, to tell the truth," said Keith's older brother, Dennis Earl. "We don't have a library in the Back of the Yards. Doesn't that tell you that the people don't care?"

This says a lot about the people in this area, and maybe their level of education. There is a cycle of repeated violence in the South Side and education probably has something to do with it.


please feel free to add your own opinion

Pageant Racism

Beauty pageants are not something I usually pay attention to. However, the most recent Miss America results have sparked some discussion that I found interesting. They crowned the first Indian-American winner.

"I'm so proud to be the first Indian Miss America," Nina Davuluri said after she won. CNN

In 2013, one would not expect this to be a news-worthy headline. What makes it a headline is the backlash from racists who decided it was unfit for someone of Indian decent to win. 

Nina won the contest of with the platform of "Celebrating Diversity Through Cultural Competency." How fitting that people took to twitter soon after the announcement and bashed the judges and Nina herself, because of her race. Many tweets called her out for being a Muslim, (she is not) a great representation of intelligence levels of people posting the tweets. 

Another thing this reminded me of was the blog of a fellow classmate who blogged about racism. When I read it the first time, I thought it was satirical with lines such as "Our president is black. If our country is still prejudice towards black people, why would we have voted Obama in?" and "The war for racism is over." This is just blatantly false. Obama won by 51%. A very large amount of people did not vote for him. Many of those did not take race into account, but many did. We still live in a nation where racism is a huge problem. To say that it is over is ignorant and disrespectful to those affected by it.

Do you think racism is "over?" Will it ever be?


Also if the author of that blog reads this, I mean no offense

Olympics (Good News and Bad News)

Good News
Last February, the Olympic committee removed wrestling the list of sports in the summer olympics, due to the sports outdated leadership and potentially dull matches. Removing a sport that has been present since the Olympics in 708 B.C. drew harsh criticism, however. It may sound like not that big of a deal, but being pulled from the olympics could potentially drivet he sport into the ground. This is because unlike baseball, (which wrestling opposed for the olympic slot) there isn't a well organized pro league to compete in. After college, there is not where to go, except the olympics. (Unless you count WWE... most people don't). This puts less value in the D1 league, and would result in less scholarships for wrestlers.

According to BBC, a few changes have been made. Two weight classes were eliminated for men, and two were added for women. One of the problems was that matches were only two minutes, so an it wouldn't develope and become entertaining for spectators. They solved this by lengthening the matches.

Hurray for the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo.

But there's Bad News for the 2014 Olympics in Sochi, Russia.

I won't be watching them, and neither should you.

This is due to the Russian anti-gay laws that have been recently instated. Specifically, the law bans  "propaganda of nontraditional sexual relations around minors."Because of this, they have arrested openly gay people, and made it clear that any gay atheletes who come to compete will be arrested.
According to CNN protests involve bars refusing to serve Russian Volkda- as high-schoolers we can't participate in this boycott, but we should not watch the Olympics. Revenue from Olympics depends greatly on advertisements being seen by viewers, and this would be a HUGE hit to a city that has to spend a lot of money to put the games together.
As gay rights have steadily increased in America, it is very surprising to see other countries with such different views.

How long do you think it will take for America to have widespread acceptance of homosexuality? The rest of the world?