Zackinabox’s Weblog

“Marijuana is the most commonly abused illicit drug in the United States. It is a dry, shredded green and brown mix of flowers, stems, seeds, and leaves derived from the hemp plant Cannabis sativa. The main active chemical in marijuana is delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol; THC for short”.

Since I have been old enough to even know what marijuana is, people have just made a huge deal over it. The government just doesn’t know when to keep there foot in there mouth and give it a rest. They are always dancing around the issue, and debate whether it should be illegal or legal.

I am not going to lie, I have smoked marijuana at a point in time, and I don’t mind people smoking it, but after reading up on it I have that it has bad affects and consequences;however, the amount of arrests and fines for smoking marijuana is ridiculous .

Politicians, scientists, and doctors will go on and on about the negative affects of Marijuana, and police officers can keep breaking up a good time, but what is this doing? Statistics show that marijuana is the most used illegal substance in the World. The most recent stats I found were from 2006 which show canada ranks 8th in the world for the use this of drug.

It seems to me that nobody is thinking about cutting down on the grass anytime soon. Even though researchers say marijuana contains over 400 chemicals, it is the persons choice if they want to smoke weed, it’s a bad thing but cigarettes are also deadly, and should have been off the market years ago, and there still sitting pretty in stores.

Scientists have estimated that one in three adults smoke, with over 1 billion people smoking worldwide. The majority of these smokers reside in countries on the low end to the middle of the socioeconomic spectrum. Of this majority, about 80% live in low and middle-income countries. The total number of smokers worldwide is expected to keep on increasing each year. The number of cigarette smokers is very high, just like the number of pot smokers, therefore something should be done about cigarettes if they want t keep marijuana illegal. It also a very little talked about fact that most people who smoke begin smoking before they are 25 years old. Worldwide observations suggest that people are starting to smoke at a much younger age. World Health Organization studies reveal that the majority of smokers in affluent countries begin in their teens.

Personally though, I believe nothing and nobody on this planet is perfect. Legalizing marijuana would make the ongoing discussion end, and people would be much happier if they just gave it a rest. Let people make there own choices, it’s the only way anyone can learn.

I am not going to lie though, it is a very hard decision at times to take sides. It takes a lot of thinking because even though getting high makes you feel pretty good for a little while, it hurts you in the end. Marijuana contains more than 400 chemicals, and most of those are found in tobacco smoke as well. Another scary risk you have when smoking marijuana is, the fact that you are five times more likely to have a heart attack. It is also said that the risk of some trying cocaine is 104 times higher if the person is a marijuana smoker.

Whether marijuana will be legal ever, is a long process, and we may never see that day, but I believe if that day arrives, it will make the police, and governments job easier, and the people of our Country and all over the world will be much happier.

Over the summer I took it easy on the blogs and now it’s time to get back into the game. Last social journalism class, we talked about The Rathergate Scandal. For this weeks blog I will shed some light on the Rathergate scandal and how it impacted Blogging/online journalism to this very day.

Dan Rather Was a reporter for CBS for nearly 25 years. He was well respected and well-liked around many. He was doing very well until just a few years ago.

In the year 2004 a story aired on 60 minutes about George  Bush’s national guard services, known today as the Rathergate scandal. There were memos said to be created in 1973 were found in the Killian files which were documents of Lieutenant Jerry B. Killian. The documents looked rather suspicious so bloggers and blog readers investigated further. The documents were shown on CBS and appeared to be inadequate forgeries. 

This scandal that Dan Rather caused is a major turning point in blogging and journalism in general as it was one of the first very big stories as far as blogs are concerned (one of the first stories that was made known by blogging instead of television, radio, or print).

Dan Rather actually teaches us a very important lesson as journalists. He got himself into trouble for not being factual, and trying to hard to impress the viewers. You must always remain factual as journalists. The ratings will come. Rather could have had a great story if he would have been patient and actually looked for facts, answers and information. As a journalist you need to dig. That’s what the bloggers did.

I am still getting used to blogging, and have a long way to go as a journalist, but I will keep digging for answers and always be sure to give the public what they want and be factual and accurate while doing it. I will have to stop procrastinating, and take some initiative in order to keep my stories on time in order to prevent another “Rathergate” type scandal. Even though Rather made a big mistake it actually helps young journalists out there know what not to do, in order to keep the people happy.

Journalism has gone through many changes over the years. TV was once a very dominant medium, and still is to this day. The question is: Will it remain dominant in the future? It may not be #1 20 years from now, as the Internet seems to have the most information available. It allows you to find everything from the other media with just a click of the button. I believe the newspaper will be completely gone in the future because people will get lazy, and tired of paying for the paper when they can find it online in the comforts of there own home.

As people may see the Internet taking over as a good thing, it can be bad for journalism as well. Journalists may be forced to create websites that you have to subscribe to in order to read the content. They will do this in order to make money. An average person will not want to pay for this because it is something they have been able to receive free for a very long time, and the change might come to quickly.

Radio news will most likely be all via satellite radio in 20 years or so since it’s listener rate appears to be growing rapidly.

I believe Journalism itself will never die because people are always going to feel the need to be informed, and as journalists that is our job and nobody can do it better than we can. Even though the way people receive the news may change, journalism will never leave this world and journalists will continue to crack big stories and keep the community informed until the end of time.

Here is an article about the future of journalism: http://www.ojr.org/ojr/stories/060212pryor/.

By:

Zack Tiessen

Human Bandwidth

“We have access to more information than at anytime in history. The question remains: How much information are humans able to process?”

I completely agree with the opening statement. Access to information has never been so easy as it currently is. But a question that frequently occurs is How much information an average human can contain and use. I believe that it will vary. Each person is different some people can process a lot of information.

I believe in order to have at least a brief understanding of how to tell if a person can consume a lot of information is by finding out if they use the left or right brain more. It is said that people that are left brained enjoy being instructed verbally and can process it very well. Right brained people prefer to be instucted with visuals and they find verbal instuctions dull and boring . Right brained humans also enjoy studying in groups, as opposed to the left brains that don’t mind completing a lesson on there own. After hearing that, I believe we are all able to understand information equally and we can understand a lot. The only thing is that some need to find information different ways. Some people may be right brained and some may be left. In order to find information people just need to do it in a way that makes sense to them, and can keep their interest. For information on Both sides of the brain check out: http://www.angelfire.com/wi/2brains/.

Even though I think that the Brain is the big factor in finding information, it does not mean I am correct, it is just a theory. The only way one could ever find out exactly how much information a human being can process is by doing a large study across the globe. This sounds alright on paper but I do not think people will want to do this study unless they receive incentives prior to the study.

In conclusion I believe that we may never really find out how much information a human can process but anything is possible in the future.

“We know there is a vast morass of information out there that our audiences want us to try to make sense of. The danger consists in trying to leap above it, not by getting more dramatic or salient or verifiable facts, but by analyzing, speculating, predicting, interpreting – by drawing definitive conclusions while the bodies are still warm.” Paul Knox, The Globe and Mail

This statement located above could not be more true. Paul makes it clear that as journalists we should try our best to be factual. This shouldn’t be a surprise as this is what our professors have been teaching us since the first day of college. If you are not factual you may run into trouble with one of your sources or a clever audience member. When you are setting up a story you must be sure to find a reliable contact, and make sure they are telling the truth. When you are interviewing them, you want to make sure you record them as it happens so you do not miss anything so that you will not feel the urge to dishonestly edit it or input false statements. If you do this you could be charged and severe penalties could occur.

The article is also saying that journalists are aware of what the people today want to hear, and learn about. Journalists do there best to dig, investigate and find this information while being clear and concise in the delivery. As we may not always be able to predict exactly what the people want we do our best to interpret the information we find in a conversational and unique manner that will keep our audience asking for more.

Paul Knox writes for The Globe and Mail has seen a lot in his day, and since he is an accomplished write being part of one of the biggest papers and all his statement above is a good guideline for aspiring/young journalists out there. Every young journalist should be sure to follow this, it will make their life much easier. Here is a site that will help with research techniques: http://comm.gmu.edu/academics/minor_ej.shtml

In conclusion I strongly agree with this statement, and think it makes perfect sense to the journalism world. Don’t worry about getting more dramatic facts, but worry about analyzing, and speculating the subject and most importantly make sure you interpret it factually.

By,

Zack Tiessen

Today, Friday March 14th, 2008 Peggy the librarian made a stop in our researching techniques class. She displayed many different ways to make our working lives easier. She showed us many different search engines and elibraries such as: The Brain, Ebsco Host etc, and dog pile. She stressed the importance of being specific in a search but not too specific. Peggy also advised us to broaden our horizons and try other libraries, and sources other than Google and yahoo.

Although she insists we use google less, Peggy also says those search engines are still good for certian topics. When searching for something such as public transit history, and a political view of it you are probably better off search Mohawks own online library “the Brain” or you can also check Proquest. After Peggy presented to our class I now feel i have a better idea for searching, and can complete it much quicker.

When using proquest, the Brain and ebsco host it makes it much easier then yahoo or ask to find your information because they give you advanced searching techniques such as a slot for each keyword you have. When using those you don’t just find Articles like you would on google. You can find articles, magazines, books, ebooks, online journals and more.

After this presentation I now feel I am capable of compleing any task, assignment, and final project without any difficulties because the search possibilities are endless now.

In conclusion I believe Peggy was very informative, and gave us great insight to all the first year students on proper and basic research techniques. There were some points in her presentation that I thought were rather unclear because she may have spoke a little to fast, but other than that I learned a lot and found todays class to be very productive. Now that I know there are so many books online at the Brain, i may hardly ever have to attend mohawks library.

By,

Zack Tiessen

I interviewed Mohawk College student Sarah Nunziatto about her musical college life. you will learn about her musical styles and influences when you watch this video.

In social journalism class last week, we looked at an assortment of photos and debated whether the manipulation in certain photos was ethical/right. The main example was a flower which had a blemish removed.

I believe that when removing a spot or blemish from a photo you must first look at it carefully and see if it will affect the symbolism and significance of the photo. What I am saying is that sometimes a photo may need a little adjusting to look respectable. If the move you make does not affect the uniqueness of the photo, I don’t see why there would be a problem with editing it.

On the other hand, if there is a picture of a famous athlete, actor, actress, or other celebrity you should not edit the way the photo looks because you may offend the person in many different ways. For example: many magazines such as time have had to hange there cover after editing it because they change the color of someones skin, add in people who were not there, or multiply an audience in the picture. This is far more serious then the manipulation of a single flower in my opinion. But, that’s all it is, an opinion. Everyone has them.

Recently I was introduced to the musical stylings of the band ” The Blood Brothers”. I never heard of them until a week ago. It ends up that they were a band for 10 years and 3 months a go they went there seperate ways. I really enjoy there music because they combine techno beats, with distorted guitars, bumpin’ bass lines and a fat drum sound.

They are much like “Horse the Band” as they both combine techno with hardcore melodies. I am really dissapointed to find out they are no longer together as there music is so unique. I can only imagine how awesome there concerts would be. On the upside you can still find there songs and videos on there Myspace

They have many different and unique songs including “Set fire to the face on fire”, “We ride Skeletal lightning” and my favourite ” Cecilia and the sillhouette saloon”. The reason that song is so good is simple, they take a rock beat which sounds much like the Chorous from the Tool hit “Lateralus” and digitalize it and keep the beat through the whole song while the singer screams. Ironically enough the song does not get boring because they manipulate the speed of the beat, and change key at times but the beat always reamains the same. As simple as it seems it is innovative in a way.

A lot of there songs strongly show the elements used by such bands as: Black Sabbath, Metallica, 3 iches of blood, Maximum the Hormone and even the great Led Zeppelin.

In the end I can not really say what kind of music they are, whether it’s thrash metal, melodic metal, hardcore, screamo, experimental, in the end they’re simply great.

If anybody wants to learn more you can find videos, and concerts on youtube.

For my first blog I am choosing new music, and upcoming bands as my theme. I chose this because I am really into the music scene and recently started a band. May also Incorporate what it takes to make it big in the business. May also discuss sports, as sports and music are my greatest passions.