The Art of Making Homemade Bows

About a month ago I had to wrap a present for my mom’s birthday on January 1^st. I have wrapped plenty of presents in the past but I have never cut the wrapping paper, my parents always did it. This doesn't seem that difficult of a task, but for me it was. Since I didn’t measure the wrapping paper lengthwise, I had excess wrapping paper on the sides of the present. In order to finish wrapping the gift, I had to remove some from the sides but I didn't realize it until I had half the present wrapped. I started cutting the sides of the paper as best as I could without ruining the paper but the cut sides turned out uneven and jagged. I hid these sides under the good sides as best as I could to make it look neat. When I was done I took a look at it and realized it needed something more. That something more was a bow but we don't buy bows for presents in my house so I decided to make one myself. I didn’t know how to make one so I did some research on the internet and found that the steps to make one were not too difficult.
First cut 9 strips of paper (this could be wrapping paper, newspaper, magazines, etc.) ¾ of an inch wide and 11 inches in length.

Then take three of those strips and cut an inch off the length

Take another 2 of the 9 strips and cut 2 inches off the length

Take one of the remaining strips and cut the length to be 3 ½ inches long

After you have all your strips cut to the required lengths, twist the strip to form a loop on both sides. This was a little difficult for me but if you play around with it you will eventually get the loop.  Once you have the loop, staple both of the ends in the middle so it stays. Repeat this step for the 7 other longer strips. For the shortest strip just form a circle and staple the ends together.

 Now you may assemble the bow.

Take the three longest strips and put them on top of each other spacing them evenly and secure the stripes with a dot of glue, tape or staple forming the base of the bow.

Next take the 2 shorter strips and put them on top of the base of the bow securing them again with glue, tape or a staple.

Finally put the circle on top of your bow and secure it down.

Now all you have to do is step back and gaze at the magnificent bow you just created costing you only your hard work and determination.

When I created the bow myself and putted it on my present, I knew that my present was now complete and ready to be presented. When I gave my gift to my mom, she actually thought that I had bought the bow, that's how great it turned out. So even if you just bought the gift you can still add something made from scratch, filling your present with love!

Televisions Impact on Politics

“Our national politics has become a competition for images or between images, rather than between ideals” one commentator said. The television was a great invention; people could now watch something that was happening miles away with just a click of the button. It has brought back direct contact between people but that isn’t always a positive thing. Since the beginning television has a negative influence on presidential elections because of their focus on image and capturing a wider audience.

The Kennedy vs. Nixon debate was the first televised presidential debate. The negative influence started here, with people looking at the image of a person rather than their views.  According to an article written by Louis Menand, Kennedy appeared to be “crisp” looking while his component Nixon had on a light-color suit, wrong makeup and bad posture; he was considered to look “fuzzed”. People who watched the debates on T.V. were more likely to vote for Kennedy while radio listeners were more supportive of Nixon. One commentator stated that “An effective President must be every year more concerned with projecting images of himself”. This can be followed through thirty years later when Clinton was shown on MTV and an audience member asked about what kind of underwear he wore.  In the “U.S. Presidency and Television” article, Roderick Hart said that by the question being asked and Clinton, himself, answering exposed several rules of the new “phenomenology of politics”. The Presidents are losing their civil image and becoming more like celebrities. Clinton appeared on MTV which is a network that airs music videos and reality TV shows not where they discuss political views.  The questions itself is all about image, why should we care whether our president wears boxers or briefs. Shouldn’t we be more concerned about how he will govern us? 

Television shows are all about trying to get the best ratings and coming up with ways to capture a wider audience, same thing goes with presidential debates on TV. Ted Koppel wrote in his journal “Off Camera: Private Thoughts Made Public” about how they dumb down the questions and the debates they show are not really debates. The debates on TV are more of an interview because they get asked a question and reply but they don’t argue with their competitors like a debate really is. Since the presidential candidates are allowed only a certain amount of time to answer commentators have dumb down the question. Since you only receive a limited time the candidates can’t go further in to how they are going to do it, you just accept their idea but don’t consider if it’s really possible. Also Ted Koppel appears on Nightline and he said they took the best three minutes of the debate to show how the great the debate was to people who missed it. They do all this just to capture a wider audience but according to “Nielson Tunes in Politics: Tracking the Presidential Election Years” the ratings haven’t increased. Since the 1980’s election the people who watch a presidential debate has decreased even though are population is growing.

I believe that how the media plays a story to capture their audience also influences people’s opinions which can lead to how the president decides. “The Impact of Television on American Politics” was passage from a book that examined the relationship between politics and the television. Walter Cronkite was a well-known and respected newsman on CBS. After President Lyndon Johnson stated that the Vietnam War could be won, Walter Cronkite didn’t believe it and went to investigate himself. He then broadcast a story on CBS showing that the war was not coming to an end but it was actually a stalemate. The Vietnam War was unpopular to begin with but the way Cronkite showed his investigation made people hate it even more.  Johnson knew that more people would believe Cronkite than him and announced that he was ending the war in Vietnam. Media should not influence peoples beliefs or presidents because majority of the time they don’t truly tell all there is to tell, they only capture what will make viewers interested in.

Television has long had an influence on society affecting everything from what we eat, wear and buy. It’s influence in politics is far more negative than positive with the result being political views shaped by image and sound bites rather than issues.

Major World Events in 2011 (Part 2)

May 1^st after almost 10 years on searching for Osama Bin Laden, Americans commandos find and kill him in a compound north of Islamabad, Pakistan. Because of the death of Bin Laden many people were worried that another major attack like what happen on September 11^th with the twin towers would happen again. The U.S. increased security and were on high alert of any terrorist action. 

July 21^st : The last space shuttle, Atlantis, touches down around 6 in the morning for the last time at the Kennedy Space Center in Flordia. This marked the end to the American space shuttle program.  The program first started in April 1981, and had 30 years of discovering more things than scientist would believe and an ignoramus impact of the advancement of technology. 

August 24^th: Steve Jobs, the co-founder and CEO of Apple Inc. announced that he would be resigning immediately from his job after years of health problems. Steve died later in the year, Wednesday October 5, 2011, at the age of 56 from fight a battle with cancer for many years. The last item that he worked on was the iPod 4, because of his death many people went out and bought one to honor him.

Sept 11^th: marked the 10^th anniversary of 9/11. Because of this, the United States increased their security fearing that there would be another terrorist attack since it has been 10 years and there were rumors going around that they were plotting something. The official memorial of the victims was also presented. It was two reflecting pools set in the same place were the twin tower in New York City was.

October 20^th: Moammar Gadhafi’s 42 years of ruling Libya had finally ended after he was killed during an assault by opposing forces in his hometown, Sirte.

November 9^th : An earthquake hits the eastern part of Turkey. The impact of the earthquake killed at least 5 people and traps many more under rubble of destroyed buildings. Three weeks later Turkey was struck with another earthquake that killed over 600 hundred people in the area were the first earthquake hit.

Major Events Around the World in 2011 (Part 1)

In my previous blog I wrote about the major events that happen in my life over the past year in 2011, now I am going to post a couple of major events that happen around the world in 2011. When I was researching, I came across lots of interesting information that I didn’t know about or forgot that it happen last year, I had a lot of “really that only happened last year” moments.  Here is my list of some of the major things that happened in 2011:

January 8^th: Jared Loughner, 22, starts shooting at a political event outside a shopping center in Tucson, Arizona. Six people were killed and 16 were injured during the shooting. The target, Congresswomen Gabrielle Gifford’s was shot in the head but survived. Later in the year she is able to come out of the hospital and is able to talk and walk but still has some functional problems.

Feb 2^nd: After starting to protest in Egypt, weeks in advance against their President Hosni Mubarak’s government, he finally resigns leaving the military to take over the government. In late May Hosni Mubarak has to face a trail resulting in the death penalty for killing the democratic protestors.

March 7^th: This is more of a social media thing but Charlie Sheen gets fired from Two and a Half Men. He has been in and out of rehab, arrested for domestic assault and was in trouble for destroying a hotel room in New York. Charlie Sheen takes to the media to express his anger which increases his audience. Later on he starts a comedian show that traveled to a couple of cities but failed due to unpreparedness and lack of support from the audience.

April 28^th: The royal wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton took place. Thousands of people (including me) watched the wedding take place at the royal palace. 

May 1^st after almost 10 years on searching for Osama Bin Laden, Americans commandos find and kill him in a compound north of Islamabad, Pakistan. Because of the death of Bin Laden many people were worried that another major attack like what happen on September 11^th with the twin towers would happen again. The U.S. increased security and were on high alert of any terrorist action.

Campaign Stop Ratings (Part Three)

3^rd: Rick Perry. He got third place because none of his stuff was bad but it wasn’t outstanding either. Rick stopped at the Blue Strawberry downtown; I have never been there so it was cool to see what it looked like. We had trouble finding a parking space downtown since it was in the middle of a work day so by the time we arrived the place was packed and we had to stand in the entry way in order to see him. Luckily it was warm outside (50’s) so the cold air didn’t bother me. He didn’t really give a speech, he mainly asked questions but it was pretty short only lasting about 20 minutes. The free stuff was okay, the usual buttons and pamphlets but he did have free shirts. Unfortunately, there were only larges left.

Worst: Newt Gingrich. I chose him last because I really didn’t enjoy anything he had to offer. Newt was 45 minutes late and like Mitt Romney he didn’t apologize which I thought was rude especially since it was lunch time and I was getting hungry. The location he chose was poor because it was this big machine garage with no heating. Since it was much bigger and had less people than Mitt Romney you could feel the coldness. My sister, dad and I had to all sit with our coats and gloves on because it was so cold. Once he did finally arrive he spoke for an hour and had questions afterwards. I felt his speech was the most boring because unlike the other candidates he didn’t throw a joke in or something to make it more uplifting. The only great thing that came out of this was that you could take pictures with an elephant. His wife writes children books, so they had someone dressed up as an elephant to promote her books. This I thought was very random and unexpected.

Unfortunately I was unable to see Michele Bachman because she appeared on a school night and I had too much homework. My sister and dad went though, and the only thing really they said was that she was very quick, only 5 minutes and she was done. I also didn’t see Jon Huntsman because he decided to campaign in New Hampshire even though their primary was held a week later than ours. He believes though that “in New Hampshire you pick presidents, in Iowa you pick corn”.

So to sum it all up, that is my opinion on how great their campaign stops went, from best to worst.

Campaing Stop Ratingsa (Part Two)

2^nd: Mitt Romney. I chose him and Rick Santorum as a tie for second because they both had positives and negatives on their campaign stop. The thing I disliked the most was that Mitt Romney was a half hour late and he didn’t even apologize which I thought was rude. I must admit though, he did have some positive things going for him. At the building they handed out free homemade Chex mix and monster size cookies which were still warm and delicious. They also had coffee but I am not a coffee drinker so I didn’t take any. Another good thing was his speech length; it was about a half hour long which was one of the shortest of all the candidates and I have to say the least boring. The location was okay, it was just in a machinery building (great photo opp. because it shows that he cares about small business) but there was no heat. You couldn’t tell really about the heating because it was so packed but then they decided to open up one of the garage doors a little. It just happened to be right where I was standing so I got the pleasure of feeling cold air on my legs, not pleasant.

2^nd: Rick Santorum. The main thing I didn’t like about his campaign was the length of his speech. He talked for a half hour about his views and then allowed for questions. The questions were not short and the answers were even longer. This one guy, my sister and I both agreed that he was ranting, went on and on about something and then I was wondering what the question was. His location was second best from Ron Paul’s, because it was at the new True North building. I got to see what they did to the old library and I was impressed, it looked very nice. Rick Santorum also had free popcorn, cake, chocolate and bottled water which is always a plus because who doesn’t like free food.

Campaign Stop Ratings (Part One)

This year, 2012, the election for the next president is up for grabs. Since Obama is a democrat and has only served one term, he is up for the presidential spot on the democratic side. The republicans are the ones that have to do all the campaigning because it’s still undecided who will be Obama’s competitor. (The democrats can choose someone other than Obama but they usually pick the president). In order for the candidates to get the word out about their ideas they have to campaign like crazy, meaning we get to enjoy the endless phone calls, commercials, mailings and debates on TV that just happen to be shown on the same channel as the show you wanted to watch. Another way to campaign is to hold campaign stops. This probably appeals to more people because you have the choice to go see someone and you get a more personal feel about their opinions. The candidates do all this in hope of seeing the results they are looking for in the caucuses and primaries held in each state which will ultimately decide who the republicans pick to go up against Obama.

Since Iowa is the first caucus in the United States we get to experience the republican candidates campaigning first. Some people believe that whoever wins the caucus in Iowa will have a better chance at being the republican candidate for the presidency. Probably if we didn’t have that impact or we weren’t first, the candidates would go for the bigger states than campaign here which could be good or bad. I was lucky and with the help from my older sister and dad I almost met all the candidates in person and got a picture with them. Since I am not old enough to vote in this next election I went along mainly for the fun and to see what kind of free stuff was handed out. I could go on and rank them from where I agree with their views but that would be boring. Instead I am going to rank them from best to least favorite based on their free stuff, location and the time limit on their speeches.

Best : Ron Paul. The main reason I chose him to be the best is because he got my sister and I on national television (which I talked about in a previous blog) and really nobody can beat that. He also made his campaign spot at a great location, the Kirkwood Hotel, which is very nice and sophisticated looking. Ron Paul had free stuff but nothing out of the ordinary, the usual buttons, stickers and pamphlets. The one thing though, that struck me as different was the free cookbooks. He said it was a tradition in their family to hand out cook books, so we grabbed a cookbook that his wife had made. Ron Paul did make the comment that the food in the cookbook may not be the healthiest but it sure is good which I thought was funny.

Black

Dekker, Ted. Black. Nashville, TN: WestBow, 2004. Print.  (408/408 pages)

I have enjoyed reading book one, Black, out of the Circle series by Ted Dekker. Black is more of a science-fiction book which is different from what I normally read but since taking this course I became open to different type of books. I was having trouble finding a book that would be challenging enough for the class, my sister recommended the Circle series because she read them and thought they were good so I decided to give it a try.

In the first chapter I was really confused because it was kind of like background information on one of the characters but I didn’t know that until half way into the book. Another confusing part in the book is that it goes back and forth between two different worlds. Every time, Thomas (the main character) falls asleep in one world he wakes up in an imaginary one filled with talking birds and fruits that heal you. Sometimes it doesn’t say that Thomas has fallen asleep except for a text break and then all of a sudden he is talking about different people and experiencing different things than what you just read.  

Other than the switching back and forth between the two worlds, Black isn’t that difficult to understand or boring for that matter. Once I got through the first chapter in the book I kept on wanting to read more to find out what happens in the end to both his worlds. I wanted to know “will the disease kill everyone” and “are the birds in the black forest going to kill everyone in the village”. Since this is part of a series they didn’t answer these questions at the end or else there would be no room for the next book. The great thing about this though, since the books were published in 2004 I didn’t have to wait for the next book to come out which is what I am reading now. I would recommend this book for people to read because it’s a good book playing a fantasy and a natural disaster part.  

Healthier School Lunch's

Over the past couple of years schools have become more concerned about the food they are serving to kids during school. In some states the government has passed laws requiring school lunches to meet certain nutritional guide lines.  The exchange of junk food for healthier choices in school lunches is a positive step toward an overall healthier lifestyle. 

According to CDC, childhood obesity has increased over 10% in the last twenty years.  Because of this increase more children are at risk for high blood pressure and cholesterol, heart problems, high blood glucose which can lead to diabetes, bone and joint problems, certain cancers, stigmatism and low self-esteem. In order to put a stop to this trend CDC recommends a good healthy diet, one filled with whole grains, fruits and vegetables. School lunches are a good way to increase this healthy life style among students. Putting healthier options on the lunch menu insures that at least students are getting one nutritious meal a day. For some kids this may be their only nutritious meal because they can’t afford it outside of school.  

I agree that changing junk food for healthier food in school lunches will increase the child’s ability to learn and pay attention. According to a study in Appleton Wisconsin they saw a change in the children’s behavior when they switched out the junk food for healthier options at lunch. There were less drop outs and fights reported and the students were more alert and calm. With the switch from candy and pop machines to a salad bar, the principal said she didn’t have to deal with daily discipline problems that happened before the switch. 

Many schools feel that with the exchange for healthier food, school lunch costs will increase but that is not true. According to a University of Minnesota study, it was found that while healthier items do have a higher labor cost, fruits and vegetables cost less than processed food. In the Appleton study, Principal Dr. Scullen says "if it results in a happier kid, improved learning, and ultimately a better community then it's a cost we cannot avoid. It's something we must do." In both the Appleton study and the Minnesota study there was an increase in kids eating lunches at school so schools will not be losing money there either. 

With the switch to healthier food in school lunches there will be improvement in student performances on an academic level but also later on in life from reducing the risk of diseases.