TED Talk Topic Ideas

- The El Sistema program, a program that focuses on giving music to underprivileged children, giving them a chance in the competitive world.

- The problems with student debt

- How schools don't prepare students for the real world (life skills)

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What makes a good TED Talk?

A good TED Talk is a presentation where the speaker manages to engage the audience and catch their attention with a specific subject. The speaker has to know a great deal about the subject and must be comfortable with it. One of the fundamentals a TED Talk must have is a good amount of visuals, in order to explain the topic more clearly to the audience. However, there cannot be an excessive amount of visual aids due to the effect of the presentation feeling more like a movie. Every TED Talk must end with a takeaway that the speaker wants the audience to learn, which is basically the core principle of the talk.

TED Talk Blog Post

http://www.ted.com/talks/david_christian_big_history?utm_campaign=ios-share&utm_medium=social&source=email&utm_source=email

This TED Talk talks about the whole history of the universe and how it came to be, leading up to present day. The speaker, David Christian, focuses on how every step since the Big Bang has played a played a significant role in the development of makind. He talks about how life was created by exotic combinations of different chemicals, and how eventually DNA was formed. DNA serves as a computer that tests thousands of algorithms, copying itself an infinite amount of times and making errors along the way, recording information each time. This is why the brain was formed, in order to make the carrying of information be on the fly. However, his most interesting statement is on why humans are so special, using the theory of "collective learning" to explain this. Collective learning is the phenomenon that employs the unique use of language by humans in order to pass on information from one human to another, which then is passed on by generations, allowing mankind to record its own history, which other species cannot do. He ends the talk by comparing the modern world to a global brain, with 7 billion people learning at warp speed, showing the timeline from the creation of the universe to present day.

Blog #9

The two debates we had were interesting, talking about very controversial and powerful topics that we all had different views on, lowering the drinking age 18 and violence in video games. I personally found both topics to be right up my alley since I am an avid gamer and I come from a country where the drinking age is 18, but people are still allowed to drink even when they are underage. The drinking age just states the age required to be able to purchase alcohol. I have been drinking since I was 13, and growing up while drinking has helped me become a responsible drinker and taught me my limits and how to drink with moderation. 

As for the actual debates I thought they were on par and both of the groups did an equally good job on each. One thing I noticed about the other group during both debates was how they had most of their responses written down, almost like a script. This was especially noticeable when Joseph was debating while reading off the iPad. It didn't make the debate feel as authentic, which is one of the key elements in an actual debate. After both debates, I was under the impression that the team relied too much on their captain, Lauren. One of the reasons we did this activity was to be able to distinguish our individual ability and teamwork, not one person carrying the other team. My team did a good job during the debates, doing our rebuttals on the fly instead of written down, which makes it easier to reflect our personal opinions and also gives us a chance to truly respond to what the previous person said. However, I felt like we did need better organization for some of our responses, in order to make them sound clearer. As for the results, I believe that the other team won the debate on violence in video games due to them having more data and better points, while my team won the debate on the drinking age, due to us having more experience with the subject and better responses to the other teams points. I am looking forward to the 1 on 1 debates where I feel much more confident and proficient in.

Debate/ blog #5

Video games

A common misconception nowadays is that video games are too violent, and as a result, the people who play them become more violent themselves. As an avid gamer who has played a great variety of video games I can tell you that this statement is false. The video game market of today is full of all sorts of games, but there is an obvious majority of violent games, the most popular being games like Call of Duty, Halo and Grand Theft Auto. The reason that violent games seem to always be so popular is because of the demand for them, and the companies that make them are aware, which is why most of these games have yearly installments that give these companies a tremendous profit.

Sales of video games have more than quadrupled from 1995-2008, while the arrest rate for juvenile murders fell 71.9% and the arrest rate for all juvenile violent crimes declined 49.3% in this same period. 

A causal link between violent video games and violent behavior has not been proven. Many studies suffer from design flaws and use unreliable measures of violence and aggression such as noise blast tests. Thoughts about aggression have been confused with aggressive behavior, and there is a lack of studies that follow children over long periods of time.

A 2004 US Secret Service review of previous school-based attacks found that one-eighth of attackers exhibited an interest in violent video games, less than the rate of interest attackers showed in violent movies, books, and violence in their own writings. The report did not find a relationship between playing violent video games and school shootings.

Playing violent video games reduces violence in adolescent boys by serving as a substitute for rough and tumble play. Playing violent video games allows adolescent boys to express aggression and establish status in the peer group without causing physical harm. 

Video of a child with cerebral palsy playing with people in order to beat the final boss in a game

https://youtu.be/9XCuMxMz_IE

"It seems doubtful, from the point of view of the species history, that the human brain, which came of age in the Olduvai Gorge, can be turned to the jungle at such speed simply by watching flickering pixels on a nineteen-inch screen. In the scale of time, television has existed for less than a wink, and if it is indeed undoing what oral and print cultures have so laboriously built, then those traditions may be far more ephemeral than advertised." 

- Professor James Twitchell, University of Miami

Drinking age

Coming from a country where the drinking age is lowered there are many advantages to it. One of the major benefits is that it teaches people to learn how to drink responsibly at a younger age, and by the time they are older they know how much alcohol they can consume before they get drunk. The point of drinking isn't getting drunk, it is to enjoy the beverage. If the drinking age is 21, people usually go into drinking very quickly, causing addictions and accidents at a higher rate, due to the amount of time people have to wait in order to drink legally. Raising the drinking age to 21 has created problems instead of solving them. The “under-age” drinker, no longer permitted the occasional beer during a dance party, is now more likely to chug high-octane alcohol in dangerous quantities before heading off to that party. As a result, alcohol use has become more, not less, dangerous.

"Raising the drinking age to 21 hasn't reduced drinking -- it’s merely driven it underground, to the riskiest of settings."

- Gabrielle Glasier, The New York Times

18 is the age of adulthood in the United States, and adults should have the right to make their own decisions about alcohol consumption. Turning 18 entails receiving the rights and responsibilities of adulthood to vote, smoke cigarettes, serve on juries, get married, sign contracts, be prosecuted as adults, and join the military - which includes risking one's life.

Allowing 18- to 20-year-olds to drink alcohol in regulated environments with supervision would decrease unsafe drinking activity. Prohibiting this age group from drinking in bars, restaurants, and other licensed locations causes them to drink in unsupervised places such as fraternity houses or house parties where they may be more prone to binge drinking and other unsafe behavior.

There are fewer drunk driving traffic accidents and fatalities in many countries with MLDA of 18. Although the United States increased the MLDA to 21 in 1984, its rate of traffic accidents and fatalities in the 1980s decreased less than that of European countries whose legal drinking ages are lower than 21. 

Traffic accidents and fatalities are most common among newly-legal drinkers, regardless of the MLDA. In 2009, the 21- to 24-year-old age group had the highest percentage of drivers in fatal crashes with blood-alcohol concentration (BAC) levels of .08 or higher – 35 percent. Any increase in traffic accidents or fatalities in 18- to 20-year-olds would be offset by a decrease for those 21 and older.

The problem of excessive drinking by underage people has its roots dating back to the Prohibition, where people used to drink as much as they could before the police would show up. The impact this had has now made excessive drinking the norm for underage people, since they don't know when the next time they will drink may be. By lowering the drinking age, people will learn to drink more responsibly since they are able to drink whenever they want.

Raising the drinking age to 21 has created problems instead of solving them. The “under-age” drinker, no longer permitted the occasional beer during a dance party, is now more likely to chug high-octane alcohol in dangerous quantities before heading off to that party. As a result, alcohol use has become more, not less, dangerous.

"Raising the drinking age to 21 hasn't reduced drinking -- it’s merely driven it underground, to the riskiest of settings."

- Gabrielle Glasier, The New York Times

Pros: Lowering drinking age to 18

- Many states already allowed underage drinking to occur 

   - In 29 states in the U.S, drinking is allowed at the age of 18 as long as it, occurs on private premises and is done with parental permission 

   - 50% of the U.S allows for underage alcohol consumption if it is done for a religious purpose 

   - Another 11 states allow underage drinking if it is for educational purposes 

- Traffic accidents and fatalities due to drinking come from new drinkers of any age

   - 2009 dats, the age group with the highest percent of drivers with an illegal blood alcohol content level was the 21-24 age demographic

   - Although there would be increases in the 18-20 age group in these statistics these would be offset by reductions in older age groups

- No evidence that a 21 year old drinking age reduces accidents 

   - When the legal age of drinking was set in 1984, the rate of traffic fatalities/accidents decreased less in the U.S

- An 18 year old has the right to vote and serve in the military

   - If an 18 year old can make up their mind of who's going to be the next leader and take a bullet for their country they should be able to buy alcohol. 

- Says that 18 year olds has less tolerance compared to a 21 year old 

   - MIGHT be true- but you won't know until you find out

   - Tolerance doesn't come with age- comes with relization of responsibility 

- "Forbidden Fruit" 

   - Curiosity leads to more people under the age of 21 drinking anyways

   - 18+ "forbidden fruit" not used anymore

- People under the age of 21 tend to drink more when they get alcohol because of the uncertainty as to when they will be able to drink again

- 22% of all students under 21 compared to 18 over 21 years are healthy drinkers

   - 32% underage are compared to 24% of legal are heavy drinkers

- Young people are still drinking despite the fact that this behavior is illegal; teens and many adults are ignoring the law

- The law and fear of being caught creates convert drinking, such as secretive drinking makes it difficult for adults to know what's happening and help those with a problem

- The fear of being caught, limits on the ability to get alcohol 

   - Not able to drink at a club or party ables to have teens drinking large amounts in a short period of time in private (pre-gaming)

   - Putting kids at risk for alcohol poisening 

- If youth are allowed to make other choices (voting, going to war, getting married) they should be able to consume alcohol and they can face the consequences 

Debate topics

- the drinking age should be lowered to 18

- video games are too violent

- students should not be graded on their handwriting

- drone attacks are a necessary part of modern warfare 

- it is never appropriate for the government to restrict  freedom of speech

- performance enhancing drugs should be allowed in sports

Blog #4

This assignment was similar to the monologue one due to the whole process of memorization and such, but this spoken word project was more interesting in my opinion. The reason being that a poem can say more than a monologue and how it can tell more than one story. The liberty of choosing a poem that we could recite out loud was interesting as well, because each person could choose a poem that they connected with. 

I chose the poem “To Pimp a Butterfly” by Kendrick Lamar. Kendrick is a well known hip hop and rap artist, and the poem is about his upbringing in Compton, how he changed after his career started and how he eventually came back to his hometown to teach the people what he had learned when he was away. The reason I like the poem is because it shows his transformation in a non conventional way, by portraying himself as a caterpillar turning into a butterfly. I could also identify with it due to me being the only member of my family away from home, and how this experience has made me grow as a person. 

Working on memorizing the poem was tough, especially because it uses unique words in some of the stanzas which were hard to memorize. Combining the poem with background music was also challenging, due to the speed and rhythm of the poem. But after help from some classmates I found a good track to settle on. It consists of a buildup created by jazz drums which reach to a climax at the same time the poem reaches its own. Due to the short length of the track however, I would have to match my pacing in order to finish the poem before the music ended. 

As for the other presentations, they were excellent. Lauren’s was timed perfectly with the music, with her expressions matching the mood of the poem. Chelsea’s music had the same effect, matching the topic and theme of her poem. 

https://youtu.be/MyGFUpcebCE