Call of Duty: Is it too Real?

“Violence in Video Games” was produced to demonstrate the close similarities between real-world violence and simulated violence included in video games. The video juxtapositions scenes captured in the real-world and those that exist in the fantasy game world depicted in the Call of Duty series. Shooting dogs, beating children and murdering innocent civilians are dwarfed by the amount of unmitigated evil game developers are having their heroes portray.

Now, Call of Duty is introducing the use of biological weaponry. The use of bio-weapon torture is captured in the video connected to the link below.

Call of Duty: Bio-Weapon Torture

This new edition to the Call of Duty series portrays soldiers torturing a spy with a shard of glass and constant punching in order to retrieve the spy's secret information of his connections with a bioweapon producing company. In this hunt for the producers of deadly biological weapon called Nova 6, the soldiers kill anything and anyone in their path to find the weapon and contain it. A biological weapon is a bacterium, fungus, or virus created solely for the lethal destruction of a population. Questioning places such as Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia, is this video game being too real for consumers?

The information given is based on real countries and real biological weapon information. The people that are playing this game are being exposed to the unfair exploitation of poorly alleged countries. The search for this biological weapon gives insight to the harmful affects of the weapon, but introduces it on a bad note.

To follow the blog that first sparked this idea, click on the link below:
Technorati: Call of Duty

Speech Video Evaluation

Let me just start this post off by saying,

"It is so hard to watch a demonstration video of yourself!"

It's easier for a person to critique themself because they instantly seek out the negatives so, I am going to list the positve sides to my demonstration video first. Then, I will record some aspects that I need to work on.

Before I give an evaluation of my video, I am going to give a background of the demonstration. On Wednesday, October 27, I taught my Life Science Communications class how to make Oreo Brownies. My speech was a little over 5 minutes long: an extremely nerve-wrecking experience.

After reviewing the video of my demonstration speech, I can list some positive and negative aspects of my speech. I noticed in the video, that I did keep a substantial amount of eye-contact with the audience, and I used frequent hand expressions throughout my demonstration. I was also pleased with my use of visual aids. Showing the different utensils used to make brownies and applying some of them to my demonstration was an advantage to my speech.

Some things that I could work on for future speeches would be introduction, articulation, pauses, and organization. My introduction was moderate. I tried connecting my subject to the audience with the idea of "favorite foods". Though I believe I could have introduced the subject in a more interesting way, such as providing a question to the audience. To give an even more outstanding introduction, I could have also used a more dynamic voice; the pitch of my voice was somewhat consistent and ordinary. 

Some minor things I could have done with my voice were adjusting my articulation and completing my sentences. I noticed in a few parts of the video, that I would stumble over a few words and mutter the rest of my sentence. It’s natural for me to feel rushed in a demonstration, so to prevent myself from stumbling over words, I could use some pauses to catch my breath.

Another thing I would like to work on for my next speech is better organization. In my demonstration, I talked in the order of ‘brownie batter, crushing Oreos, bake brownies, and then adding frosting and Oreo topping’.  This order worked for my presentation; however, I wish I had defined my brownie-making steps to provide a little more time for my speech and give a clearer explanation of the process.

Overall, I had fun giving this speech and watching other classmates giving theirs. I hope I can successfully apply my critiques and others’ critiques to my next presentation.

To view my demonstration video on "How to Make Brownies" click on the link below:
http://sharing.theflip.com/session/140454875b6335677919db93816c6dec/video/25355991

Peer Responses

I sincerely apologize for these late peer responses, however, I would still like to complete this assignment.

Peer Response #1
Casey Peacock's TILOHL

After reading Casey Peacock's blog about the obstacles found in the construction of the new novel, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks (TILOHL), I was intrigued by the complexities one must go through in creating such a dynamic novel. The author of the novel, Rebecca Skloot, faced many obstacles throughout much of the research and writing she had to do in order to complete her novel. Casey's impression of the greatest obstacle that Rebecca Skloot had to endure was forming a story without bias.

And I must say, "I completely, 100%, agree".

I like how Casey's blog discusses the troubles of creating a story that everyone can read without adding a biased opinion to it. Overall, the novel confronts the conflicts of Scientific Research and Human Rights. Henrietta Lacks, the main character of TILOHL, produced cells that were "immortal," but when she was tested for cervical cancer, her doctors took some of her cells for research, not knowing at the time of the cell's immortality.

Years later, her cells had produced millions and millions of stem cells, which are utilized in much of today's scientific research. The problem was, Henrietta's family never received any compensation or consent for the use of Henrietta's cells.

The conflict of human rights, scientific research, and the struggle of a "famous" family to stay out of poverty is presented in a neutral tone in Skloot's novel. I believe that her attention to detail, knowledge, and logic within the story, help to give the audience a choice to decide and form their own opinions of the intense situation.

You can find Casey Peacock's Blog at the link below:

http://cpeacocklsc100f09.blogspot.com/

Demonstration Video: Guitar For Newbies

On Monday, November 1st, I watched an interesting demonstration video created by the web group, “Mahalo”. The demonstration was titled, "How to Play Guitar for Newbies".

Veronica Belmont opens her demo with a quirky James Bond theme, attempting to capture the audience’s attention and teach them how to play the theme song from the James Bond films on the guitar.

Belmont first introduces the basic terms and key notes of the average six-string acoustic guitar. She assessed various concepts involving the use of a guitar, such as the importance of the guitar neck and its effect on the guitar sound.

 "The farther down the neck you press on the strings, the higher the pitch will be produced by the guitar" (Belmont)

What I enjoy most about this demonstration is the repeated use of the visual aid (guitar) and Belmont's devoted attention to her audience. Her friendly smile and cheerful attitude can easily captivate the audience's interest in learning how to play the acoustic guitar. 

Some outstanding gestures that Belmont made in her presentation were (1) constant eye contact with the audience (or in her case, the video camera), (2) speaking with flawless pronunciation, and presenting with an optimistic attitude, (3) execution and use of visual aid (guitar), and finally (4) giving a clear, organized presentation in a chronological order (introduction, background knowledge, basics, etc.).

A significant drawback to this presentation was the fact that she wasn't an expert in playing the guitar. She was still at the beginners or intermediate level herself, and it would have been nice to have been taught by someone with complete knowledge and experience with a guitar. Fortunately, she only talked to the audience about the guitar basics and then brought in a professional acoustic guitar player, Bob Quartez, to teach the audience the finer chords. He demonstrated his expert skills to the audience, in hopes of attracting their attention and interest in playing the guitar. 

 To view this demonstration, click on the link below:

http://www.mahalo.com/how-to-play-guitar-for-newbies

If this link is not working, follow the youtube link below:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2RaXQKL-xbQ

Alison Schmitz, November 2010

Should Organs be for Sale?

Currently, a controversial issue of both medical and ethical traits is circulating throughout many countries of the world, concerning whether citizens should have the right to sell their organs or just give them up for donation. 

So why is the question, "Should Organs be for Sale?" a huge issue?

There is a significant portion of people that do actually donate their organs; however, the number of donors does not match the rising number of patients in need of transplants.

Personally, I would not allow the selling of organs, because it is a manner of self-exploitation. Of course, if organs had been for purchase, the number of people in need of organ transplants would decrease, but the morality of the people and economy would fall apart. Impoverished people, in desperate need of money, would be faced with the desperate option of making money and losing an organ. With that, they are caught in a personal battle of deceit and exploitation. Another question to take into consideration when think about this issue is, “How will the government be able to pay the organ sellers?” If people are granted the right to sell their organs, the number of organs sellers is going to rise, and when it rises, the health department of the government will be forced to pay an extensive amount of money to the organ sellers, whether it’d be money or discounted healthcare. Either way, the government has to be able to pay the organ sellers, and the only way possible is by taking a small portion of money out of the nation’s back pocket. This indicates a rise in taxes. The nation’s citizens will have to pay more taxes in order to pay for the people selling their organs.

The online article, “Sell Organs to Save Lives,” by BBC news, confronts the issue of the UK government allowing the right to make organs for sale and purchase. Martin Wilkinson, the writer of this article, displays his personal viewpoint of the issue. He believes that people should have the right to sell their organs. Our opinions clash because we each support different sides of the issue; I choose to support the side of personal morality and he chooses the science of economics. He confronts the subject of supply and demand is this issue. Wilkinson believes that when the ability to make money from selling organs is allowed, then people will start to give away more of their organs (supply), meeting the needs of the large number of patients waiting for an organ transplant (demand).

To view the article, "Sell Organs to Save Lives," click on the link below:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-10786211

TILOHL: Synopsis Review

Henrietta Lacks is quite the opposite from any ordinary human. Her famous, “immortal” cells are the primary mechanisms that have shaped and modernized what medical science is composed of today. Her presence in history deserves a spotlight in the eyes of the universal public; for without Henrietta Lacks, today’s civilization would never have seen in-vitro fertilization, a vaccination for polio, or even treatment for leukemia. According to The Washington Post’s book review of the novel, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, written by Rebecca Skloot, there was an estimated “50 million metric tons of HeLa cells replicated over the past 60 years of medical research”. Rebecca Skloot’s novel provides the the reader with both scientific and personal knowledge and sparks questions of the recurring controversies of human equality and privacy rights.

The largest obstacle in constructing a novel that appeals to a broad audience, is finding a common topic that will lure in the readers’ attention. Examples of the varieties of story topics that currently appeal to different readers are: drama, science fiction, love, sorrow, adventure, and etc.  Rebecca Skloot’s obstacle was finding multiple topics to merge together, that would create a story that would interest a large audience. Therefore, the novel, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, is not a novel merely created for the intellectual minds of the medical field.  Rebecca Skloot clearly portrays the history and influence of HeLa cells without writing in immense scientific format. Skloot pays close attention to the detail of Lack’s complete life story, entailing the various conflicts of her dynamic love life, her coping with a devastating illness, and her spiritual and scientific impact on others after passing away.   

As an intrigued reader of  The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, I don’t anticipate many challenges while reading this book. Though I have only read half-way through Part One: “The Exam”, I have not yet encountered any challenges that have affected my understanding of the story. Thus far, I give this novel a standing ovation.

For additional information about the novel, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, click on the link below.

The Washington Post: Book Review of 'The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks'