Fracking (and this has nothing to do with Battlestar Galactica)

Fracking or hydraulic fracturing is a method of obtaining natural gas from shale rock by injecting high pressure fluid through the rock fracturing it.  The controversy surrounding the process is the same basic controversy that surrounds any other means of obtaining energy.  Can it be done safely?  And what are the possible consequences of a leak or accident?  You find the same basic concerns with oil drilling or nuclear power.  Every source of energy has a trade-off associated with it.

Oil?  There's concern about the environmental impact it has by its use and that's even when it's drilled for safely.

Coal?  Same thing as it's another fossil fuel.

Nuclear?  What about radiation?

We need energy and there's no impact free and risk free way to get it.  There's also the national security concern.  The ability of other countries to impact our fuel needs is a concern.  So what's the answer?  I believe we should use the resources we have.  We should also do it as safely as possible.  If more incentives are needed then let's provide them.  If more oversight and regulations are needed then ok, provide those as well.  If more research, then let's do that as well.  There's no perfect answer, but we should go with the best one.

Here's some links for more information on fracking.

FracTracker
Hydraulic Fracturing Facts from Chesapeake Energy
EPA Page on Hydraulic Fracturing and the Clean Water Act
Wikipedia Page on Hydraulic Fracturing

We Interrupt This News with Breaking News... Hold On This Just In

This clip from JibJab, "What We Call the News" satires the sorry state our news media.  As the video points out news was more about news instead of about flashy graphics.  This is nothing new and we’ve discussed it in class.  It isn’t necessarily about the news itself; it’s about ratings which means it’s about profit.  It’s that motive which dictates what we see on the news.  We get intensive coverage of the latest happenings in the entertainment world but not what’s happening half way around the world.

The clip starts off in black and white to evoke the feeling of 1950’s America when America had more faith in the news programs they watched.  The clip moves to color and shows a hook yanking out Walter Cronkite symbolizing the removal of the sort of integrity he embodied.  The video goes into flashy graphics that overfill the screen leaving no room for the anchor.  The lyrics of the song are also displayed on a running scroll at the bottom of the screen just like today’s news media.  The video then mentions some memorable news stories of the past decade.  We remember them because of the overwhelming amount of coverage they received.  As a final bit of satire the song in the video is interrupted at the end by a breaking news story – President Bush locked out of a room.  So sit back, enjoy the clip and as the song says, let it turn your brain to goo.

Violence as Entertainment

Violence in video games and other forms of entertainment is everywhere in our culture.  It’s interesting to note that in prehistoric times in video game history this was practically non-existent.  Any violence or attack tended to be against aliens (Space Invaders), ghosts (Pac-Man), robots (Robotron).  Not that there weren’t exceptions of course.  The mid-70’s arcade game Death Race comes to mind where you as the driver of a car had the goal of running over people although the technology of the 70’s didn’t allow the people to actually look anything like people.

Admittedly I have played some of these games myself.  Games such as Wolfenstein 3D, Doom, Alien vs. Predator although these are tame compared to the video of Grand Theft Auto we saw in class.  Part of the problem with violence in video games is that the technology continually gets better and more realistic while the other part is the tendency of programmers to continually push the boundaries.   How much more violence can we program into games and get away with it.

There’s also the question of desensitizing.  Does playing or viewing violent content desensitize us to violence we may encounter in real life?  Does it make us not care? Not feel?  Some would argue that these are just games, just harmless fun and nothing more.  However few would argue that it is beneficial.  Where are those wondering if playing and viewing violence in our media actually sensitizes us to violence and makes us care more about the people around us?  No one is asking that because it doesn’t happen.  So should we limit the amount of violence children are exposed to?  Should we limit what we ourselves are exposed to?  Wouldn’t we as a society be healthier if we did?

Food as Lifestyle

“What is there to eat?” is a question that we’re all familiar with.  A question related to that is what should I cook?  Cooking shows have been around for almost as long as there has been TV with Julia Child on PBS as an example.  However, until recently there hasn’t been the celebrity chef complete with catchphrases such as Emeril’s “Bam!” and “Let’s kick it up a notch!” or the wholesale packaging as food as lifestyle.  It’s no longer just a small cooking segment showcasing an interesting dish to make. It is now a lifestyle.  Of course you have a fully stocked kitchen with all of these wonderful utensils and other tools (if not you could always buy it from us).  Don’t get me wrong you need the right tools for the right job.  It’s the assumption that your typical normal American household is similarly stocked.

In this Rachel Ray clip describing how to make a vegetable penne pasta dish she goes through her kitchen which just so happens to have pine nuts (what you mean you don’t have pine nuts in your kitchen?), haricots verts (green beans), along with a variety of herbs (fresh of course, no bottle of McCormick here).

Now maybe food is a lifestyle to many people.  I just think it’s good to keep in mind that it’s ok if you’re kitchen isn’t as fully stocked as what you see on TV.  Go with what you like and don’t worry about keeping up with the Jonses (or Rachel Ray’s, Emeril’s, etc.)

Seeing is believing except when it isn't

Last week in class we discussed the power of photographs and the ease they are manipulated.  It's a natural instinct of ours to trust what we see and because photographs can so closely capture reality we tend to believe them.  In fact we tend to believe a picture over an eyewitness.  Memories can fade and people are fallible, but a picture is a picture, right?  That would be true except for one thing, it's people who take and can change photographs.

The picture above is one I took for my Photography 100 class here at Penn State Greater Allegheny in Spring 2009.  It's a picture of an abandoned Burger King in Olympia Shopping Center.  I was standing in the KFC parking lot at the time I took the picture.  The assignment was a type of treasure hunt where we took different pictures to fulfill different categories.  This picture was to fulfill the category of a picture that symbolized current life.  Because of the recession, especially at the time, I decided to take a picture of a closed business.  The above picture has had nothing done to it whatsoever, but did I manipulate it?  Yes, I did because I framed the shot.

This part of the assignment called for me to manipulate the above picture using Photoshop or something to make it completely different.  But instead I'll talk about the manipulation I did and let you decide whether the above photo is still truthful.  The story I wanted to tell was of a closed business.  On the day I took the picture there were two construction vehicles in the Burger King parking lot.  They were just out of frame to the right.  Why do that?  Well then you would see a closed business with two construction vehicles which would change the story.  The story then becomes one of hope.  Yeah, the business had closed but it was being rebuilt.  That wasn't the story I wanted to tell.

Did I lie or deceive?  You would think so at least until I pointed out that the KFC parking lot by the drive thru was fenced off in orange construction fencing.  The construction vehicles were therefore just parked in the BK lot to keep them out of the way.  They were really there to work on KFC, not BK.  KFC was (and still is) an operating business and they probably wanted to keep the disruption of construction to a minimum.  So the story I told with my picture was true and it would've been a deception to shift the frame right to show the construction vehicles even though they were there.  Just as an update 2 years later, the orange construction fencing at KFC is gone and so are the construction vehicles.  The BK building is still there and still empty.

Pictures even if it's straight from the camera are still manipulated because a person framed the picture.  Pictures represent reality but they are only a snapshot of reality because you never see what isn't in the frame.  How a photographer frames a picture is how they frame the story they want to tell and it's something we should always be aware of.

Media Logjam

This week we're to write a log of a local news program and look at what kind of stories and ads are aired during a 30 min broadcast.  For this assignment I looked at the 6 pm KDKA news on Thursday.  The news broadcast is 1 hour so this log will look at the first half of the program. The following is the log while musings about it will follow.

Killing of Officer Derek Kotecki

Suspect -- Charles Post

Outpouring of sympathy from community

Memorial Fund & Funeral arrangements

Local weather

Coming up news – continuing coverage of Kotecki, schools closing, James Harrison Steeler – how opponents feel about him

Ads -- Giant Eagle pharmacy, political ad – negative against Fitzgerald for Raja, First Niagara – no ATM fees, Jeep, Wade heating & cooling

Further details on plane crash in West Virginia

Arrest of man in murder of woman in WV

Suspect arrested – former high school swim coach – sexual assault

Coming up – officer killed, booster seat dangers, Hines hosts kids from S. Korea

Ads -- News report tomorrow about new treatment for breast cancer, Giant Eagle Pharmacy phone-in ask questions, refinish hardwood floors, Kia Optima, ad for next Insider

Lottery numbers

Crosby closer to returning to Penguins lineup

SI poll votes Steeler James Harrison NFL’s meanest player, earlier SI named Troy Palamalu the nicest player

Hines Ward Helping Hands foundation, hosting bi-racial kids from S. Korea

Local weather

Dennis Bowman Classroom weather visit, focused on tornado safety, donated $11,000 to KD Turkey Fund

Coming up – eBay changes to make shopping faster, drilling disputes, sports

Ads – ad for show Person of Interest, ToyotaCare, Giant Eagle pharmacy question phone-in, political ad – negative against Raja for Fitzgerald, Empire carpet, NFL show ‘n tell – bring NFL player to class, ToyotaCare

Lawsuit dismissed filed by EPA and DEP against coal mining company

Hearing postponed for drilling company appeal against local zoning ordinance

Coming up – no money may force school district to close, bad booster seats, continuing coverage of officer killed, stock market – local stocks

Ads – Giant Eagle Pharmacy phone-in, Monroeville Dodge, Disney Cruise Line, Slippery Rock University, Levin Furniture, Wright GMC

The lead story concerned the killing of a police officer and the hurt and sense of loss for his family and community. The news stories included this murder and another.  A lot of the shorter stories merely concerned themselves with stating the incident happened and not much more.  The lead story did go into greater detail and lasted about 8 minutes.

Ads included a couple politicians attacking each other, quite a bit of the ads were for a Giant Eagle pharmacy phone-in where you could call in and ask questions of a pharmacist.  If you were looking for a car there were ads for you too.  And if you're looking for a university for yourself or your child there was also an ad for Slippery Rock.

A weather forecast was included which is useful.  An upcoming story of tests of car booster seats would also be informative, but it must have been in the last half hour of the newscast.  There was a more feel good story with Dennis Bowman's visit to a local school and their mentioning that the school raised $11,000 for the KD Turkey Fund which helps local lower income families by giving them a turkey for Thanksgiving.

A lot of the news was just information and little else.  Some of it helpful and uplifting.  The 8 minute lead story was about a story, but the newscast spent time on it and while hearing an officer is killed may cause increased anxiety, talking about may also help the healing for the community that lost this officer.

The Brands Around Me or Yeah, I Have Something to Say

As I look around by room searching for the names of brands, I find I’m not finding much.  That’s not to say there’s nothing because there is.  There’s just not that much.  I have no posters on any of the walls.  I do have a calendar hanging on my door with a different Bible verse on it every month.  This month is Psalm 105:5 (NIV), “Remember the wonders he has done, his miracles, and the judgments he pronounced.”  I have a TV and Blu-ray player which have their brands on them, a Vizio and Sony respectively.  I also have a Sony stereo as well.  I do have some video game systems that also have their brand names on them.  I have a Sega Dreamcast, an Atari Jaguar, and an Atari 7800.

As for the clothing I wear I try to keep it simple as well.  I honestly couldn’t tell you off hand the brand name of the sneakers I wear.  I could tell you what type of phone I carry and even the brand of watch I wear, a Timex.  For shirts I either wear plain shirts or shirts that have some type of Christian message because I feel that it’s an important message to get out there.  I have some Christmas and patriotic shirts that also carry a Christian related message.  I also have a few shirts that have the name of my church on them and also a few Atari T-shirts as well.  I almost forgot that I also have a couple Penn State sweatshirts too.  Personally I don’t wear many brands because if I’m going to advertise a brand or message I want to make sure it’s something I like or something I want to say.

Object or Person, How Do You View Others?

This week we looked at, among other things, how media women in advertising.  We watched a clip about Killing Me Softly that shows how media made women little more than objects. This is even taken to extremes where women’s bodies actually become part of a beer bottle, a car, etc.  Even ads that targeted women treated them as objects.  Buy this product or get this surgery just to look better for your man.  These ads treat women as objects instead of people.  There is more to a woman than just a body.  There is also a mind, a heart, and a soul.  There is a person.

There are Biblical truths to help illustrate this point.  Firstly, women as well as men are made in the image of God.  Genesis 1:27 (NIV) states, “So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.”  Women are not objects, but people which brings up the next point, how to treat a person?

Jesus answered that question in a couple of passages.  The first quoted here is often known as the Golden Rule.  Luke 6:31 (NIV) – “Do to others as you would have them do to you.”  I’ll quote a section of Scripture here to provide some context for Jesus’ response to a question asked by religious leaders.  It’s from Matthew 22:34-40 (NIV) – “Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together.  One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question:  ‘Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?’ Jesus replied: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.’”

In regards to this week’s topic it can be thought of this way.  Do you want to be treated as nothing more than an object?  If not, then don’t treat or view others as objects.  View them as the people they are.

Which is better, Brand X or Brand Y?

This week’s question concerns brands and what brands we devote ourselves to.  So, why do we pick one brand over another?  Is it the quality of the product?  Does that company generally put out quality products?  That would be a good reason to be devoted to a brand.  Is it because that brand provides good value for the price you pay?  That’s another good reason.  Are there other reasons that aren’t so good, though?

Does that company have really good advertising?  Has it been implanted in your mind that if you buy Brand X you’ll be really cool but if you go for Brand Y (even if in truth if was the better brand) you wouldn’t be cool.  Do we buy a product to fulfill a use or merely to try to improve our image?

Cell phones and cell phone carriers are an example of this.  Why are you with the carrier you have and why do you have the phone you have?  Is one carrier really that much worse than another?  And once you’ve committed yourself to a brand, how easy is it to change to another, a concept called brand stickiness?  To continue the cell phone example, I currently have an iPhone.  I’ve had an iPhone model for 3 years now.  I found the phone powerful and easy to use compared to the smartphones of the era, Windows Mobile, and others.  In those three years I’ve accumulated lots of applications.  So, what if I wanted an Android phone for my next phone?  Truthfully, Android is also a good phone OS and they have a good phone selection, but then all those apps I bought would be useless.  I’d have to get new ones, but what if I went with the next iPhone model?  Then all those apps would transfer over without spending one additional cent over the cost of the phone itself.  In fact, Apple provides even more incentive to stay in the iOS ecosphere.  What if I want a tablet?  If I get an iPad I suddenly have a bunch of apps ready to run on it.

In the question of brands, just make sure you buy what will fulfill a purpose, or it’s a good product and not necessarily what brand tells you will make you cool.  Coolness comes from the inside, from who you are, not what you buy.