27. April 2009 by student.

What causes more car accidents - drunk driving or cell phones and text messaging? After research on this topic, I stumbled upon some very interesting statistics. One website tells us that cell phone use in the vehicle results in 2,600 deaths and 330,000 injuries each year in the U.S. Another website shows the 2005 report of drunk driving deaths in the U.S. The number of deaths was 16,885, which was 39% of total traffic fatalities that year. It is obvious that statistics show that drunk driving results in a significantly higher amount of deaths than cell phone use. Drunk driving is illegal everywhere in the U.S., whereas the use of a handheld cell phone while driving is illegal in only some states, for example, New York and California. While you are driving and using a cell phone, you are not giving complete and undivided attention to the road and other cars around you. This can be very dangerous, and scary. Especially when people around you are driving and talking on their cell phones, AND using their hands to talk–waving them in the air, therefore letting go of the steering wheel. Even if you claim that you drive well while driving a cell phone, not everyone is a good multi-tasker. It gets complicated when you have to talk on the phone, watch other cars around you, listen for ambulances or other sirens, change lanes, watch out for pedestrians, red lights, and stop signs, and pay attention to your speed. Some people tend to slow down way below the speed limit while talking on the phone, and others hit the gas because they’re not paying attention and really go above and beyond the speed limit. But why do people talk on their cell phones while in the car in the first place? I’m not going to say that I’ve never picken up a phone call while driving, or text messaging at a stop light–because I have. But looking at the statistics, 330,000 injuries a year due to using a cell phone while driving is a massive number. People use their cell phones while driving because in today’s society, everything is on-the-go–hence the creation of the mobile telephone in the first place. Having a cell phone allows you to talk to people wherever and whenever, to be “mobile”. It’s convenient; but it can still be very dangerous to talk on the phone, or text message while driving.

Sources:

    http://www.livescience.com/technology/050201_cell_danger.html

    http://www.alcoholalert.com/drunk-driving-statistics.html

Posted in Introduction to Sociology | 1 Comment »

27. April 2009 by student.

Within the past year, many corporations such as GM, Fannie Mae, and Freddie Mac, have received corporate bailouts in order to keep from going bankrupt. If these companies were to go bankrupt, America, and the rest of the world would be in a major economic crisis.As of September of 2008,”Only a week ago, the US Treasury committed at least $200 billion in taxpayer funds in the government takeover of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac—a move that makes the government responsible for the two companies’ combined $5.3 trillion in mortgage liabilities. ”The fact that these companies are receiving aid when it’s been found to have been there fault that they were in trouble bothers me. When the CEO’s of the companies are receiving bonuses in the millions of dollars, you start to wonder about the greed and priorities of people in general. Hopefully, this will serve as wake-up call to many if it hasn’t already that are country is in dire need of some sort serious remediation. 

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27. April 2009 by student.

Goodwill is one of my favorite places to go exploring for “new” things. Today after getting some lunch with my parents I decided to stop by Goodwill because I was looking for some athletic pants, and I really did not feel like paying $25 for them at Adidas. I walked in and was immediately drawn to the athletic pants/shorts section. I found an amazing pair of silver shorts and a pair of black pants. Right there I considered the trip a success, but I decided to look around some more. I found this sweet pink backpack and some cool movies. I bought all of that for $6.41. It was amazing. I think Goodwill is sometimes seen as a dirty place, but I find it to be one of the best places to go searching for little treasures. I mean of course I am going to wash the clothes I got before I go wear them, but I see nothing wrong with Goodwill. My friends and I often set aside a whole day and travel all over Sarasota and Bradenton to hit up all of the Goodwill’s we can find. It is those days where we have some of the most laughs. We try on the crazy outfits and find some of the coolest t-shirts. We take countless pictures and just enjoy spending time with one another and getting some “new” things. My best friend is currently 1000 plus miles away in Kansas City, Missouri. As soon as she gets home we will be making our trip to Goodwill. We have contests to see who can find the coolest thing in the store. I do not go clothes shopping that often for many reasons, one I do not enjoy shopping I get tired of it after the forth store, and two I think many things are just extremely over-priced. I am a pretty thrifty person and enjoy finding a great deal when I go out shopping so I find my trips to Goodwill to be the greatest success. I think that is amazing what they do there. They “are North America’s leading nonprofit provider of education, training, and career services for people with disadvantages, such as welfare dependency, homelessness, and lack of education or work experience, as well as those with physical, mental and emotional disabilities.” Last year alone they employed over 1.1 million people. They believe that every person has the potential to participate in society and some type of disadvantage should not hold them back. “More than 84 percent of Goodwill’s total revenues are used to fund education and career services, and other critical community programs.” They are not only helping out their workers in need, but they are helping out the community. While many may look down on buying things from Goodwill I see it as a great way to help out the community and environment. If I can help in some small way by reusing someone’s clothes they did not want then I will do my part. For those who have never checked out Goodwill because they may have felt they were above that you should definitely check one out. They are full of so many different things; you are sure to find something you like in there.

http://www.goodwill.org/page/guest/about/whatwedo

Posted in Introduction to Sociology | 3 Comments »

27. April 2009 by student.

Poor Diets Associated With Leading Causes of Death. . .Of the 10 leading causes of death in the United States, 4 - including the top 3 - are associated with diets that are too high in calories, fat, saturated fat, cholesterol, and sodium, or too low in fiber-containing foods. These conditions - coronary heart disease, cancer, stroke, and diabetes-account for over half (53.5 percent) of the deaths occurring each year in the United StatesCoronary heart disease - Coronary heart disease (CHD) - the type of heart disease commonly associated with diet and which accounts for approximately two-thirds of all deaths from heart disease - caused over 480,000 deaths in 1995, second only to cancer. The American Heart Association estimates there are about 1.5 million heart attacks annually, and that CHD costs the United States $56.3 billion each year ($48.3 billion in direct health care costs and $8 billion in lost productivity) (table 2). The major risk factors for CHD which can be modified by an individual are high blood cholesterol levels, hypertension, cigarette smoking, and physical inactivity. Diet - especially intake of saturated fat and cholesterol - can influence blood cholesterol levels in some people, as well as influence other risk factors for CHD, such as obesity and diabetes. In addition, new research suggests that low intake of folic acid - found in many fruits, vegetables, and legumes, as well as in fortified cereals - may increase the risk for heart disease and stroke in adults.Cancer - Over 500,000 people died of cancer in the United States in 1995 - averaging nearly one person every minute. Over 1 million new cases of cancer are diagnosed each year. The American Cancer Society estimates that overall costs for cancer amount to $104 billion each year, with $35 billion in direct medical charges, $12 billion due to lost productivity associated with illness, and $57 billion due to lost productivity associated with premature death. Diets high in fat and low in fiber-containing foods are associated with increased risk of certain types of cancer. Some researchers estimate that about one-third of all cancer deaths could be prevented through dietary changes alone. The typical American diet is often not ideal. On top of the problems listed above, people could improve the health of their skin, improve their mental health, increase energy, and many more positives can be achieved by simply changing their diet. Problems with diet can often lead to people’s depression and bad moods. The simple solution: a fairly simple diet change. 

Posted in Introduction to Sociology | 1 Comment »

27. April 2009 by student.

Recently, my roommate was writing about how pollution is becoming a problem and researching methods of remedying this problem. After sharing some of the facts associated with this worsening problem, I realized the true  gravity of  the problem. I was shocked to find that there is an area in the Pacific twice the size of Texas made purely of trash (trash bags, plastics, etc.). There is an estimated 46,000 pieces of trash per one square mile, 80% of the trash coming from land and 20% coming from ships. Of this pollution, some 90% of it consists of plastic. As you can see, this is a severe problem.  I believe there needs to be more thought directed towards the cleaning of this. Practically no marine life exists in this area due to the toxicity of the waters. With as much research as there is being done towards making other things greener, I think there needs to more research and more projects aimed at the cleaning and minimizing the damage already done. However, this is just my $.02.

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27. April 2009 by student.

With the economy going into a recession it only makes the society wonder if we are going to hit a depression.  Economists have been reported that if the  swine flu epidemic that is occurring in Mexico continues than it is only going to “prolong and deepen the worldwide recession.”  Although we are not there yet it is still a possibility that this flu could become a large scale pandemic.  What this will effect along with a numerous amount of people getting sick is travel restrictions made for goods and people.  So far only 73 swine flu cases have been reported worldwide and 103 have been unconfirmed.  This has already affected a good amount of trade.

The problem is that it only takes a little bit of bad news to totally change everyone’s mind.  With the scare of a pandemic along with contributing to the economies recession it is hard not to freak out a bit.  Our country has already been struggling a bit and this is not going to help us at all.  The outbreak has already caused Russia to ban imports of meat products from Mexico, California and Texas.  Thus causing more negative outcomes for the economy.  Making trade restrictions will not help our economy recover at all. 

Not only is it urgent that we survive this outbreak and try to cure who has been effected because of their health; but because our economy can not take it.  People everyday are being affected because of the economy falling down hill.  Imagine what type of mental outbreak there will be if we are dealing with a pandemic and a depression.  One economist stated that we are dealing with “probably the most synchronized global recession in decades.”

Looking on the bright side of this situation Aparna Krishnan, a senior analyst (health care) with IHS Global Insight, believes that we are prepared to deal with this outbreak.  She stated that “the level of preparedness to deal with the swine flu outbreak is “high” compared to the SARS outbreak in 2003.”  This could provide hope to the community that we will be able to deal with this and get rid of it before it truly affects our people and economy any more than it already has.

I only hope that we can stop this outbreak before anyone else becomes affected.  The only problem they are having at the moment is finding who exactly has been affected.  Hopefully after this is resolved our economy can begin to be resolved.  It is going to take a long time for our economy to get back to where we once were but with out a pandemic we have more hope of fixing this problem.  I am just worried that if we continue to have a numerous amounts of problems dealing with the economy at once than we are on our way to a depression and one that will take America a long to get out of.

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27. April 2009 by student.

Patience. It is something that we as Americans do not have much of. I am a pretty observant person so when I go to the store I see it as this great adventure to watch how people behave. Every time I go to the grocery store I get extremely irritated at the people who stand in the checkout lanes and begin making huffing and puffing noises and muffle things under their breath because apparently the service is not fast enough. Just the other day I was at the store buying some ice for my parents and this woman came right up behind me in line. She was practically breathing down my neck, and the whole time she kept saying, “Can’t they go any faster?” I just find people like that pretty funny. They make themselves look absolutely ridiculous and in the end the line is not going to go any faster. I have learned to just embrace the long lines and watch how other react. It might have something to do with the fact that I used to work at Target that I have a lot of sympathy for the workers but I feel that it is not right for the guest to treat them so rudely. Another thing that is really irritating to me is when people walk around the store practically yelling on their cell phones. I do not need to know that you and Jimmy got into a huge fight, and he is not speaking to you. I am pretty sure the rest of the store does not care to know that either. When they go to checkout they are still on the phone and completely ignore the cashier. They continue their conversation and are incredibly impolite to the cashier, and when something is rung up wrong they begin yelling at the cashier like it is their fault. They have ignored the cashier the whole time while they were on the phone, but now that something is wrong they feel it is perfectly fine to yell at the cashier. Even standing in the line to get lunch meat; the older people somehow think it is their right to go first. I have been standing in line much longer than them but because they are older they feel it is their right to go first because they just do not have the time to wait. I often times will let them go purely because I do not feel like getting into an argument or any of that nonsense. I think that as American’s we have let technology define us and because of that we feel that we should not have to wait for anything. We want everything right away. Patience is something that is often overlooked in our society, but it can make a world of difference in many situations if you are able to just sit back and have a laugh at what is going on.

Posted in Introduction to Sociology | 1 Comment »

27. April 2009 by student.

The herbal form of the drug marijuana consists of mature female flowers and sub-tending leaves of pistillate (female) plants. Humans’ consumption of cannabis pre-dates history.[4] In the 20th century there was a considerable increase in its use for recreational, religious or spiritual, and medicinal purposes. It is estimated that about four percent of the world’s adult population (162 million) use cannabis annually and 0.6 percent (22.5 million) daily.[5] The possession, use, or sale of psychoactive cannabis products became illegal in most parts of the world in the early 20th century. Since then, some countries have intensified the enforcement of cannabis prohibition while others have reduced the priority of enforcement. I’m not going to lie I like to smoke marijuana, I think it’s the most amazing substance ever created. I don’t know about anyone else, but it calms me down and puts me in a really good and happy place. I recently got caught for possession and I think it’s the biggest load of crap. Millions of people smoke pot and its really doesn’t harm or affect anyone except the person smoking. Most stoners sit home or at friend’s houses and smoke, watch movies or something until the high is over. The group NORML is starting something revolutionary, helping decriminalize marijuana. I know its not like we can go out and smoke pot outside a starbucks, but its one step closer and I hope that the government soon passes it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marijuana

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27. April 2009 by student.

In today’s society, abuse and domestic violence occurs all around the world among many different cultures. Since the latest news about Rihanna and her boyfriend Chris Brown attacking her, their relationship has been heavily speculated and abusive relationships have been a main issue in people’s lives. I have read in many magazines about what happened between Rihanna and Chris Brown and why she decided to go back to him. Many role models and spokes people like Oprah and others have addressed their disappointment in Rihanna’s decision making for getting back with her domestic abuser. Rihanna is a very popular music icon globally and many young teenage girls look up to her and might follow her actions if they are in an abusive relationship. Abuse refers to the use or treatment of something (a person, item, substance, concept, or vocabulary) that is harmful. Domestic violence (also known as domestic abuse, spousal abuse, or intimate partner violence) occurs when a family member, partner or ex-partner attempts to physically or psychologically dominate another. Domestic violence often relates to violence between spouses, or spousal abuse but can also include non-married intimate partners; like the relationship between Chris Brown and Rihanna. Domestic violence occurs in all cultures; people of all races, ethnicities, religions, sexes and classes can be perpetrators of domestic violence. Estimates are that only about a third of cases of domestic violence are actually reported in the United States. In this case, I don’t think Rihanna would have told on Brown about the abuse because paparazzi do hound her and the news broke out when a photographer snapped a picture of her with bruises to her face and a busted lip. Women tend to be the main victims of domestic violence, however, a rise in men domestic violence has risen steadily. According to the US Department of Justice, hospital emergency room visits pertaining to domestic violence indicated that physically abused men represent just less than one-sixth of the total patients admitted to hospital reporting domestic violence as the cause of their injuries

The U.S. Office on Violence Against Women defines domestic violence as a “pattern of abusive behavior in any relationship that is used by one partner to gain or maintain power and control over another intimate partner”. The definition adds that domestic violence “can happen to anyone regardless of race, age, sexual orientation, religion, or gender”, and that it can take many forms, including physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional, economic, and psychological abuse. This including celebrity status, which can make or break your career. Many top celebs, as well as, the public were surprised to hear about the attack on Rihanna by her boyfriend of a year Chris Brown. Allegations were filed and the decision is still in process about what will happen to Chris Brown. Brown has apologized to his fans and hopefully this will never happen again and his fans will give him another chance to prove the man he really is. I think many parents of the fans of Rihanna and many others hoped Rihanna would be a role model and show the world its not ok to hit a woman and many people think it was unfortunate that she couldn’t be strong enough to leave him. I know physical violence is not good especially by a loved one, but it’s very hard to leave someone you love and if this happens again between the couple I would hope Rihanna is strong enough to leave him.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domestic_violence

Posted in Introduction to Sociology | 1 Comment »

27. April 2009 by student.

In this generation, Kids start at an early age getting in with alcohol and drugs because they want to experiment and once they feel what drugs to do them, they like it, and want more which leads to addiction. Drug abuse has many definitions related to taking a psychoactive drug or performing enhancing drug for a non-therapeutic or non-medical effect. All of these definitions imply a negative judgment of the drug. Some of the drugs most associated with kids include alcohol, amphetamines, barbiturates, benzodiazepines, cocaine, methaqualone, and opium alkaloids. Depending on the actual usage, drug use may lead to health problems, social problems, physical dependence, or psychological addiction. Drug abuse changes central nervous system effects, which produce changes in mood, levels of awareness or perceptions and sensations. Most of these drugs can alter systems other than the CNS. Some drugs are more likely to lead to uncontrolled use than others like cocaine, alcohol, and opiates. Even though marijuana has no addictive substances in it, people get in such a habit of smoking on a regular basis; they need it to make it through each day. I think marijuana is just as addictive as the other drugs out there! Most governments have decided to criminalize certain types of drug use. These drugs are called “illegal drugs” but generally what is illegal are their unlicensed production, distribution, and possession. These drugs are also called “controlled substances”. Even for simple possession, legal punishment can be quite severe. Laws vary across countries, and even within them, and have fluctuated widely throughout history. Drug addiction a pathological condition. The disorder of addiction involves the progression of acute drug use to the development of drug-seeking behavior, the vulnerability to relapse, and the decreased, slowed ability to respond to naturally rewarding stimuli.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drug_addiction

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