http://smartmouthspodcast.com/

So I listen to this amazing show called Smart Mouths in which they discuss current events and such which I believe is what we do in class sometimes. I thought it would be awesome to review:

This excellent podcast covers a wide variety of topics in every single episode. Each episode has “the round-up”, where they discuss for about 15 minutes the past weeks news with insightful comments. The round-up is an excellent way to stay in touch with what is happening in our world and you might even gain another side of the story. Although the podcasters are Americans, they prove themselves to know quite a bit about the world around them. Next segment is the pop culture part of the show where they discuss movies, music, celebrities. This part of the show is also interesting as they give reviews of new films or even CD’s. There are some good discussions on music with their last music discussion being on Green Day’s new CD. The main segment of the show is split in two, a discussion about world events and another on American events. These segments cover everything from gay marriages to racial discrimination to Obama. With these discussions, you are educated about the current moral, ethical and political problems of the world very well. After these long discussions, they move onto some funnier segments such as WTF news or 2 truths, 1 lie. These segments really round up the show on a high end.

In conclusion, Smart Mouths podcast is a wonderful show filled with in depth discussions, comedy and a good chemistry with all of the hosts. I give this podcast 4.5 out of 5.

The boy who lived... yes a blog post about Harry Potter

In 1990, J. K. Rowling was on a delayed train from Manchester to London when the idea for Harry suddenly "fell into her head". Nineteen years later, she is one of the most well known authors in the world. She has received many awards and has even had her books adapted into films. Many people praise her for making reading “cool” again and bringing a whole generation into the world of books. In this journal I will discuss who J. K. Rowling changed our society and culture.

Rowling is credited mainly for bringing all generations back into reading. In a pre-harry potter world, many kids and teenagers alike believed that books were not for enjoyment but for school. However, Rowling made reading enjoyable and fun for all ages. This increases literacy among many people.

What I believe Rowling contributed the most to our society and culture is the remaking of an old idea into the internet age: a fandom. All these Harry Potter fans can now connect via the internet. This new and improved fandom had it all: forums and podcasts to discuss, fan fiction to create, fan sites for all your news, conventions, role-playing games such as quidditch, it even had its own genre of music, wizard rock. This community was a culture and society in itself. It brought people from different races and religions into one place where everyone was accepted.

Rowling has forever changed the world with the memorable story of “the boy who lived.”

Swine Flu!

A month ago:

“The Swine Flu is a global emergency” … “Is this the worse epidemic since SARS?” … “Is the whole world going to become infected”… “The swine flu era!”

Present day:

The Bloomberg is reporting : WHO’s Chan Warns Nations Not to Overreact to Swine Flu Pandemic
(http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601101&sid=a1OeX_3t1Z5c&refer=japan)

I believe that our society has blown the swine flu cases way out of proportions with most of the patients contracting swine flu getting a cough at the least. In the article, it says that: “The new virus has sickened 19,273 people and caused 117 deaths since it was discovered in Mexico and the U.S. in April, WHO said yesterday. Bird flu, which isn’t easily transmitted among people, has killed 262 of the 433 people known to have been infected since 2003.” So is this really something to go crazy about?

No.

Comparing the swine flu, with 0.6% chance of death, to the bird flu, with 60.5% chance of death, is ridiculous. Another point is the fact that the seasonal flu kills 34,000 people each year in the United States alone. Why isn’t there any reports
everyday on that?

It’s because the media loves to blow things out of proportions. I was watching CNN a month ago and they started calling this the swine flu era! That is a great way into comforting your viewers. It’s like our media outlets are actually trying to scare us so we don’t go out of our homes unless we wear hazmat suites.

I would also like to point out the other side of this story. It is true that it is better to be safe than sorry. Maybe the media is just being “safe”. However, lately they seem to be just reporting deaths and not cases of swine flu and I believe that
this is making people believe that there are many deaths, when there really is not.

Thank you media for being… well yourself.